Advocacy

/ Advocacy / Key Issues / Federal Programs and Funding / National Asthma Control Program

National Asthma Control Program

AAFA supports efforts to prevent asthma and allergies from developing or worsening, as well as to improve asthma treatment, management and control.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Asthma Control Program is vital to asthma education, prevention and research. Since 1999, millions of Americans have benefited from the program and asthma mortality rates decreased by more than 45% from 1999-2018. The goals of NACP include reducing the number of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, school days, or workdays missed, and reducing limitations on activity due to asthma.1

The program needs funding to continue to be effective within our communities. Today, CDC funds 25 state, territorial, and municipal health departments to ensure the availability of and access to guidelines-based medical management and pharmacotherapy for people with asthma. The program addresses the intersection of public health and health care by funding state programs and national organizations, promoting asthma quality measures, and informing policy makers about the burden of asthma.2

NACP provides critical support to states working to improve the quality of asthma treatment and management. The program must have increased funding to decrease the number of emergency visits, hospitalizations and deaths caused by asthma each year. AAFA supports increased funding for NACP to sufficient levels that would allow all states and territories to have effective asthma control programs.