Alabama Asthma Program
The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) established the Alabama Asthma Program in 2009 as part of the Healthy Communities Branch of the Bureau of Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases. Alabama was awarded a five-year grant, which created a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and facilitated the creation of the ALAP. The ADPH is in the process of collecting new asthma data for the state as part of this grant and will release new data soon. Data from the 2007 Alabama Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System reports that 8.8 percent of adults have been told by a healthcare provider that they currently have asthma. The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System reports that 18.2 percent of youth in grades 9-12 have asthma. According to the 2009 Alabama Asthma Burden document: 1 in 10 residents of Alabama have asthma. Rates of asthma are increasing among both males and females in Alabama. All age groups and races in Alabama are experiencing an increase in asthma rates. The goal of the Alabama Asthma Program is reducing the burden of asthma on the citizens of Alabama by: increasing the quality of asthma care in the state of Alabama; reducing the disparities among populations disproportionately affected by asthma; establishing and maintaining a comprehensive surveillance system to monitor the burden of asthma in Alabama; increasing the education of asthma burdens, triggers, symptoms, and management for people with asthma, their family members, and caregivers; decreasing the exposure to environmental triggers among persons with asthma; reducing asthma related hospitalization rates; and establishing the Alabama Asthma Program as the recognized state-level leader in asthma related initiatives to reduce the burden of asthma in Alabama. For more information visit our website www.adph.org/asthma or on Facebook www.facebook.com/AlabamaAsthmaProgram.