May is Asthma Awareness Month, and while advocacy groups have published their newest annual reports about U.S. air quality and asthma rates these past few weeks, this year also brought one that links childhood asthma to the need for community-based action on respiratory health risks. PolicyLink's Breathing Easy for Home to School: Fighting the Environmental Triggers of Asthma calls on advocacy groups, parents, and community members to work for local government policies that will clean the air and help protect asthmatic children.

First, a little background to outline the enormity of the asthma problem. My daughter is one of 9 million U.S. children with asthma, and this chronic lung disease has prompted some parents to the forefront of the fight for better air quality, reduced emissions, and environmental justice. Recent statistics from the Global Initiative for Asthma's (GINA) Burden of Asthma report highlight the gravity of asthma in my country and worldwide:

• There are 300 million asthma sufferers around the world.
• One in every 250 deaths worldwide is asthma-related.
• U.S. deaths from asthma doubled between the 1970s and the 1990s.

In addition to those statistics, the American Lung Association (ALA) released the newest State of the Air report this May, and while some cities have seen improvements in ozone and particulate pollution, Birmingham, AL made the list of most polluted cities for the first time. Air quality also dropped for San Diego, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Balitmore-Washington, D.C. and one in 10 Americans live with unhealthy pollution in all three areas -- ozone, short-term, and year-round particle pollution.

According to the ALA,

“The air quality in several cities has improved, but in others, declines in pollution have stalled. The trends tell us loud and clear that we need to do more to protect Americans from breathing air that’s simply hazardous to their health,” said Bernadette Toomey, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Lung Association. “We applaud the aggressive efforts of Los Angeles to control particle pollution. It’s proof that making a commitment to clean up pays off.” -- American Lung Association

With its new report, PolicyLink addresses efforts to do just that, and concentrates on a comprehensive, community-wide approach to environmental asthma triggers through initiatives like decreasing auto emissions through cleaner, expanded public transportation, encouraging smart growth of communities, and considering health effects during urban planning:

To allow children to breath easy, we need to give them clean air. Parents, environmental health and justice groups, housing organizations, and community-based organizations know that no single family can do this alone. That’s why they have forged important alliances and garnered the attention of the public and policymakers to capture important policy opportunities. -- EquityBlog.org

Coalitions working on such policies successfully include the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma, which not only provides health-supportive services like home visitations for families and asthma training for medical professionals but also works to reduce the air pollution around community children:

LBACA is also teaming up with schools, after-school programs, parks and recreational centers to develop asthma-friendly environments and policies; and mobilizing the community to respond to air quality issues, both indoors and outdoors. -- LBACA.org

PolicyLink's report also profiles WE ACT, or West Harlem Environmental Action, a 15 year-old environmental justice group that fights for and protects health in communities of color. In the past, WE ACT has successfully helped reduce pollutants from Manhattan diesel buses in an area with extraordinarily high childhood asthma rates. With its current Rosa Parks School Bus Campaign, WE ACT is working to lessen neighborhood children's exposure to school bus diesel fumes, in part by ensuring the buses use best available retrofit technologies (BART):

WE ACT is carrying out a demonstration project to retrofit two Northern Manhattan school buses with BART. WE ACT will compare the air quality within retrofitted school bus cabins with the air quality in non-retrofitted school bus cabins. We’ll share the findings at community workshops involving residents, school boards and policy makers to increase community knowledge and build community power. The findings will also bolster our policy initiative with current, local data. -- WEACT.org

These groups, and others like them, have harnessed the power of parents in the fight for cleaner air and reduced emissions. Children are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of air pollution and climate change, and kids with asthma are even more at risk. Parents with asthmatic children, then, are in a unique position to advocate for healthier air, an issue with the potential to affect all children.

Further Reading:

• Plugging in that School Bus for an Energy Smart Future