Friday, January 17, 2025
1/17/2025
Asthma presents a significant public health burden due to high morbidity, particularly in children. In the District, 9.7% of children (ages 0-17) and 11.6% of adults currently have asthma, higher than the national averages (6.5% and 9.7% respectively) (BRFSS, 2021). An overwhelming majority of outpatient emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to asthma were among Non-Hispanic Black/African American District residents. Nearly 88% of all pediatric and adult asthma related emergency department visits in 2021 were among Black residents (CPPE, 2021). Additionally, the largest proportion of asthma hospitalizations between 2017 - 2022 were among adults and children living in Wards 7 & 8, representing predominantly Black populations. Unmanaged asthma can limit everyday activity and quality of life, including missed school attendance, decreased recreational activities, increased time away from work, and decreased mental health. Ultimately, unmanaged asthma can lead to increased emergency department visits, inpatient hospitalizations and death. DC Health supports implementation of evidenced based strategies and interventions to reduce the number of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and limitations on activity due to asthma. Over the past five years, DC Health has focused on reducing the number of asthma-related emergency department visits among children experiencing the highest burden of asthma by; 1) Increasing achievement of adherence to guidelines based medical management strategies for asthma control. 2) Supporting the expansion and use of a population-level asthma surveillance system to inform development of policies to address the environmental factors of asthma management and identification of patients at highest risk of unmanaged asthma. DC Health is seeking to expand on our current work by increasing the use of policy, system and environmental change approaches across the District to decrease the burden of asthma among racial and ethnic minority youth and adults with asthma in Wards 7 & 8 with low household incomes. The proposal specifically aims to increase implementation of asthma prevention and control activities using CDC’s EXHALE strategies within communities at highest risk, promoting use of home visitors and increasing capacity of stakeholders to effectively implement asthma strategies. Key to this work are cross sector collaborations with local government agencies, health care systems, and community-based organizations to assess current activities/resources, establish strategic priorities for collective action and update and implement the District’s Asthma Control Plan to promote statewide reach and maximize impact. Throughout the funding period, DC Health will form an Asthma Leadership Workgroup, implement policy, systems and environmental change strategies, increase utilization of insurance covered asthma control medication and services, evaluate program effectiveness/impact and enhance and disseminate data to improve asthma outcomes among DC residents at highest risk.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).