Asthma Program Goals

• Education: To raise awareness about asthma and to educate Mississippians on what they can about their asthma.
• Improvement: To improve self-management skills, and increase the quality of and accessibility to healthcare for persons with asthma.
• Analysis: To collect, analyze, and disseminate data about asthma that helps define the extent of the asthma problem in Mississippi.
• Evaluation: To utilize available data to evaluate the MDH's progress in asthma activities.
• Planning: To facilitate the expansion and coordination of the Asthma Coalition of Mississippi, and implement the Coalition's State Asthma Plan.

Background

The MDH Asthma Program has its roots in a South Central Public Health Leadership Institute (SCPHLI) project. The project team, composed of MDH staff members, collected, analyzed, and reported data on asthma hospital visits in 1997 and 1998 in Mississippi, recommending that a statewide asthma surveillance system be developed.

At the time, no funding or staff was available to take on a task of this scope. The MDH applied for funds from the American Lung Association of Mississippi (ALAM), and received funding for two years to begin development of the asthma surveillance system.

After the first year of ALAM funding, the MDH was awarded funding from the National Center for Environmental Health (Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch) at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Without the support of ALAM and the CDC's National Asthma Control Program, Mississippi's Asthma Program would not exist.

September 2006 began the fourth year of Asthma Program work through CDC funding. We look forward to increased program implementation and expansion.

For more about our current activities, see the Activities section.