Community Health Interventions to Advance Self-Management of Asthma (CHI-ASMA) Project

AAFA’s Community Health Interventions to Advance Self-Management of Asthma (CHI-ASMA) project is backed by a five-year, $1 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CHI-ASMA project aims to help people with asthma improve asthma control. This will reduce asthma rates and deaths.

CHI-ASMA programs will focus on serving people who are at-risk for asthma. These groups include:

• Black individuals
• Hispanic individuals
• American Indian/Alaska Native people
• Senior adults
• Pregnant women
• Children with asthma
• Military members who developed asthma while in service

CHI-ASMA Follows CDC Strategies to Control Asthma

The CDC’s National Asthma Control Program (NACP) works to help Americans with asthma have better health and improved quality of life. The program funds states, territories, cities, school programs, and non-profits. Funding helps these organizations improve tracking asthma rates and trends. Programs funded by the NACP provide training for health professionals and education for people with asthma.

Through CHI-ASMA, AAFA will work with partners to promote NACP asthma strategies and interventions (known as EXHALE and CCARE).

CDC’s EXHALE Strategies to Control Asthma include:

• Education on asthma self-management
• X-tinguishing smoking and secondhand smoke
• Home visits for trigger reduction and self-management education
• Achievement of asthma guidelines-based medical management
• Linkages to the coordination of care across settings
• Environmental policies or best practices to reduce indoor, outdoor and at-work asthma triggers
  
  

Controlling Childhood Asthma and Reducing Emergencies (CCARE) is a new objective from the CDC that used EXHALE strategies. The goal is to prevent 500,000 emergency room visits and hospital stays due to asthma by Aug. 31, 2024.

AAFA’s CHI-ASMA Program Activities

CHI-ASMA will work to improve community health by:

• Promoting updated guidelines from Expert Panel Report 4 (EPR-4) by developing programs for clinicians, patients and caregivers
• Promoting guidelines-based asthma care for military service members
• Working with community health workers (CHWs) to reduce asthma triggers in the home
• Launching three national awareness campaigns on:
• • Lung infections like the flu and their impact on asthma
  • Asthma inhaler use and controlling symptoms
  • Allergic asthma in children
    
    

New Resources and Upcoming Events

AAFA continues to develop education and resources for the CHI-ASMA project. The resources below are from our lung infections campaign. Learn how to protect yourself and others from the flu, COVID-19 and pneumonia.

Check out articles from our award-winning blog:

• Stopping a Flu/COVID-19 “Twindemic”
• How You Can Tell the Difference Between COVID-19, a Cold, the Flu, Allergies and Asthma
• Managing Asthma at School During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• How COVID-19 Could Affect School Health Care Plans for Asthma and Allergies
• What People With Asthma Need to Know About Face Masks and Coverings
• Cleaning Your Hands With Soap Vs. Hand Sanitizer
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): What People With Asthma Need to Know
  
  

Current Events:

• Webinar: Dr. Vin Gupta on Protecting Yourself From the Flu – Dec. 10, 3 p.m. EST
  
  

Past Events (Videos and Resources):

• Latest From the NIH on COVID-19, Asthma and Food Allergies
• Ask the Experts: Managing Asthma During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Back to School: Creating a Healthy Environment for Students and Staff With Asthma and Allergies
  
  

Resources:

• Asthma Disparities in America: A Roadmap to Reducing Burden on Racial and Ethnic Minorities (full report and summary available)
• People with Asthma Need to Take Precautions to Avoid the Flu
• About Pneumococcal Disease
• COVID-19 and Asthma Toolkit for Schools