Celebrate Asthma Awareness Month

April 9, 2009 - Asthma can negatively impact student and staff health and school performance. Besides being one the most common serious chronic illness among children, it is also one the leading causes of school absenteeism.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2003, an estimated 12.8 million school days were missed due to asthma.

Asthma accounts for approximately one third of all pediatric emergency room visits, and according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, annual expenditures for health and lost productivity due to asthma are estimated at nearly $20 billion.  There are also disparities in the incidence of asthma.  Asthma prevalence is higher among families with lower incomes, and African Americans continue to have higher rates of asthma emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths than do Caucasians. 

Despite all of these statistics, public awareness of common asthma triggers and asthma management remains limited.  Thus it is imperative that health providers, the government, communities, and schools increase awareness to better prevent and manage the disease. 

May is Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month

Throughout May, several organizations will hold activities to increase public awareness of the disease.  To encourage and help local organizations around the country plan activities and events, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the Asthma Awareness Month Event Planning Kit.  The Kit offers ideas for planning community asthma events; showcases event spotlights to communicate successes peers have had in the past; and includes various sample materials.  The Kit also provides several ideas to promote asthma education, including management of indoor and outdoor environmental triggers such as dust mites, mold, cockroaches, pet dander, and secondhand smoke. 

What Schools Can Do

The Kit offers an entire section to help plan an asthma education event in schools and lists ten ways to manage asthma in the school environment.  According to the EPA, to plan an educational event at a school, it is important to get the support of the school or district administration, school nurse, and other key staff. 

This section of the Kit includes several ideas for school events including:

• Offer asthma education on environmental asthma triggers and management during in-service days for teachers, custodians, and other school staff;
• Arrange a school-wide assembly with guest speakers, such as kids with asthma, local celebrities, TV personalities or local doctors or politicians; and
• Encourage teachers to incorporate asthma and the environment into appropriate curricula. 

To help schools plan an event that will have a broader reach, the Kit also includes asthma facts, media outreach tips, a press release template, a list of Asthma Awareness Month national organization and EPA regional contacts, and a sample proclamation from a local official. In addition, organizations have the opportunity to publicize their event on EPA’s website.   

Another way to celebrate is to highlight World Asthma Day, an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) aimed at improving asthma awareness and care around the world. This Day will take place on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 and this year’s theme will be “You Can Control Your Asthma.” 

NSBA has been working with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) to strengthen the capacity of school leaders across the country to better address childhood asthma through policy development and program implementation.  To learn more about this project, please click here.  To order an “Asthma in Schools 101” Packet, click here.

Source: “May is Asthma Awareness Month Event Planning Kit,” EPA; World Asthma Day webpage, Global Initiative for Asthma website; and EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools webpage.