The Pew Environmental Health Commission at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (PEHC) was established by The Pew Charitable Trusts to examine the public health infrastructure and offer recommendations to improve its response to environmental health threats. Among its areas of investigation, the PEHC chose to study asthma because it is an important public health problem that has reached epidemic proportions. More than 17 million people, many of whom are children, suffer from asthma and more than 5000 deaths annually are attributable to this disease.
The Commission found that this nationŐs public health response to asthma is lacking. In particular, resources devoted by the federal government to asthma prevention are minimal. In 1999, grant funds allocated by the National Institutes of Health for asthma were almost exclusively targeted to treatment and mechanistic studies. Grants dedicated to asthma prevention accounted for less than 10% of the total amount of grant funding. In addition, the report concluded that inadequate resources were being devoted to tracking asthma at the state and community level
This presentation will review the PEHC asthma report and discuss its recommendations and implications for public health practice and policy.
Learning Objectives: To understand the conclusions and recommendations of the Pew Environmental Health Commission's report about asthma, and the need for a national approach to asthma prevention and tracking.
Keywords: Surveillance, Environmental Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.