AARC Supports CDC’s National Asthma Control Program

April 25, 2011

The AARC has joined several other organizations in signing on to a letter to members of Congress asking them to maintain the CDC’s National Asthma Control Program as a standalone program and to ensure adequate funding for the program in the fiscal year 2012 budget.

The National Asthma Control Program was founded in 1999 and works to integrate and coordinate the public health response to asthma control via national and state-specific surveillance systems that allow officials to track and better understand asthma trends, ultimately making it possible for decision-makers to focus on strategies that work and populations most at need.

The President’s budget request proposes to merge the program with the Healthy Homes/Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and reduce their combined budgets by 50%. What’s more, the proposal would cut the number of states funded by the program from 36 to 15, eliminating at least half of the program’s school-based asthma programs and seriously eroding the ability of the program to make a difference in the lives of people with asthma.

Joining the AARC in support of the National Asthma Control Program are the American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society, American Lung Association, and other groups interested in preserving this vital public health program.