Announcements:

Asthma In California:

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that results in partially reversible constriction of the airways. The condition is characterized by episodes of shortness of breath, coughing, or wheezing that may be life threatening. Asthma can be triggered by a variety of exposures, including respiratory infections, house dust mites, cockroaches, animal dander, mold, exercise, tobacco smoke, pollen, and outdoor air pollutants.

Asthma is considered to be a critical public health issue due to its negative impact on quality of life, high morbidity and mortality, related disparities in care and outcomes, and substantial economic costs. There is no cure for asthma, but it can be effectively controlled with proper diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention.

In 2003, 14.8 percent of children and 12.3 percent of adults in California—an estimated 4.5 million individuals—had been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives (CHIS 2003).

The mission of the California Asthma Public Health Initiative (CAPHI) is to improve the quality of life for all children and adults with asthma through implementation of effective programs and policies in asthma education, management, and prevention. CAPHI seeks to reduce preventable asthma morbidity and mortality, and to eliminate disparities in asthma practices and outcomes through coordinated approaches and partnerships with communities, state and local organizations, health care providers, health departments, foundations, and academic institutions. CAPHI coordinates Community Asthma Intervention activities in the Childhood Asthma Initiative and has partnered with other asthma stakeholders to develop useful resources including:

• Guidelines for the Management of Asthma in California Schools - a resource to assist school personnel in providing appropriate support and an asthma friendly environment for children with asthma (developed in partnership with School Health Connections in the California Department of Education).
• Asthma Action Plan for Schools and Families - experts recommend that both schools and families have a current asthma action plan for all school aged children with asthma. This CDHS approved plan includes important consent and authorization language as required by law (developed in statewide partnership with asthma stakeholders).  Additional translations are available in CAPHI resources for schools.
• Best Practices for Communicating Air Quality and Related Health Information to Schools - a list of “best practices” for communicating air quality information from air districts to school districts and after-school programs, and from school districts to their schools and staff (developed in partnership with the Children’s Environmental Health Center in Cal/EPA).
• Better Asthma Care for California Kids—an online asthma quality improvement training series for health care providers (developed in partnership with American Academy of Pediatrics, Chapter 3 and funded by First 5 California).
• Asthma Care Training for Child Care Providers—a training video developed by the Emergency Medical Services Administration in CDHS and funded by First 5.  The video can be viewed (or downloaded) in English or Spanish from the CAPHI web site in Asthma Videos for the Public.

Click directly on the resources above or check the subject categories on the left to view these and other resources and to find out more information about asthma.

For information about other CDHS asthma activities and resources visit the CDHS Asthma Portal .

For official California legislative information related to asthma visit the California Legislative Counsel Website.