From addressing asthma to reducing asthma inequities: A public health model working towards social justice

Regional Asthma Management and Prevention (RAMP), a successful collaborative in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1996, promotes strategies for reducing asthma through a broad and comprehensive approach, ranging from clinical management to environmental protection. RAMP's work relies on collaborative efforts, occurs in multiple-settings, and spans throughout all levels of the socio-ecological model, with a focus on policy change. In addition to valuing the contributions of diverse organizations and disciplines, RAMP utilizes a community-based participatory approach by engaging community members who represent a core source of information and driving strategies that reflect and build upon a substantiated and comprehensive understanding of community assets, attributes, and challenges. Although asthma affects Americans of all ages, races, and ethnic groups, some populations are disproportionately impacted by the disease, such as African Americans and Latinos. RAMP's work reflects an understanding that addressing such disparities requires focus on the root causes of these inequities, such as exposure to environmental triggers, access to quality medical care, and support for asthma management. This presentation will describe the RAMP model, as well as present early findings from an external evaluation of these efforts to engage community partners in African American and Latino communities; identify the inequities that lead to disparities; develop shared objectives; and support implementation through the utilization of core strategies. By addressing asthma disparities through this framework, RAMP strives to impact health outcomes related to the effects of poorly controlled asthma and the new onset of asthma in otherwise healthy people.