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May is Asthma Awareness Month
 
May is Asthma Awareness Month and May 6th is recognized as World Asthma Day. In California, 1 in 6 children has been diagnosed with asthma (California Health Interview Survey, 2005 – Lifetime Asthma Prevalence). It doesn’t have to be this way. Environmental factors play a major role in asthma attacks which affect more than a million children in California and cost $480 million a year in hospital stays alone. Though we cannot yet cure asthma, there are ways to reduce the suffering--if our policy makers make it a priority.

Community Action to Fight Asthma (CAFA) is a network of asthma coalitions around the state working to shape local, regional, and state policies to reduce the environmental triggers of asthma for school-aged children where they live, learn, and play. Much can be done to reduce the harmful health effects of asthma and the personal and institutional costs associated with avoidable emergency room visits, hospital stays and school absences. All it takes is understanding the connection between asthma and what triggers it in our indoor and outdoor environments, and the will of our legislators and public officials to address the problem.

View CAFA’s World Asthma Day ad and op-ed. For more information on how you can help, see the links below.

Asthma Awareness Month Events
Take Action
Find out what policy makers and the public can do to reduce environmental triggers of asthma. The links below will take you to different pages of the CAFA Briefing Kit.
Get Involved
Local asthma coalitions throughout the state are working hard to reduce environmental triggers. Join one that’s working in your neighborhood!
Learn More
Find a variety of tools, data, and background information in our resources.
CAFA Coalition Reports to the Community
For May’s Asthma Awareness Month, the CAFA coalitions have each published a report card to document the current state of asthma and the environmental triggers they are working to reduce in their community. All of the reports provide policy recommendations to improve indoor and outdoor air quality, increase effective medical management, and support a broad range of social and environmental justice issues. To view the coalition report cards, please click on the links below.
Other Newly Released Reports on Asthma
CAFA Community Action to Fight Asthma