Asthma. The states' challenge.

At the national level, asthma is increasingly being recognized as an important public health problem. Because of the significant role of environmental exposure in asthma morbidity, public health agencies have a critical role to play in the surveillance and prevention of the disease. In April 1996, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, with assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, surveyed state and territorial public health departments to determine the status of their asthma surveillance and intervention programs. Of the 51 health departments that responded, only eight reported that they had implemented an asthma control program within the previous 10 years. Reasons cited for not having programs included lack of funds, shortage of personnel, and asthma not being a priority. Most states were unable to assess the burden of asthma because they lack data or face barriers to using existing data. Removing barriers to the use of data is a first step toward defining the scope of the asthma problem.