August 1, 2000
Contact: CDC, National Center Environmental Health
Oona Powell, Media Relations
(770) 488-4893

States Receive Grants for Asthma Programs

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $1.6 million in grants to eight states to support their efforts to develop and implement plans for asthma control, and to initiate or expand their efforts to track asthma rates in their states.

States that will receive funding include California, Colorado, New Mexico, Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, Michigan and Iowa. Each state will receive approximately $200,000. 

"Asthma is a major public health problem. We have an urgent need to track this disease and to find ways to control and prevent it. If we are going to be effective in doing this, we need the joint efforts of many at the federal, state and local level," said Richard J. Jackson, MD, director, CDC's National Center for Environmental Health.

"In general, state and local health agencies have been limited in their response to the increased rates of asthma, mostly because of scarce personnel and scarce financial resources. These grants will provide funding to develop and expand partnerships with the key players at the state and local level," said Stephen Redd, MD, chief, Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch at CDC's National Center for Environmental Health. 

As part of the HHS strategic plan "Action Against Asthma," CDC is supporting initiatives to determine the causes of asthma, develop interventions to reduce its burden, eliminate its disproportionate health burden in minority populations and those living in poverty, and track the disease and assess the effectiveness of asthma programs.

For more information about CDC, visit our web site at: http://www.cdc.gov

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