Asthma is a complex disease and requires a multifaceted approach to reduce its burden on the people of California. Asthma is characterized by the inflammation and narrowing of the lung airways and is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States. The effects of poorly controlled asthma include missed school and work days, disruption of sleep and daily activites, urgent medical visits for asthma exacerbations, and even death. Over five million Californians have been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives, and almost three million currently have asthma. The health care costs of asthma are enormous -- hospitalizations alone totaled over $763 million in 2005. Blacks, children, and low-income communities bear an undue proportion of these burdens associated with asthma. Rates of emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and mortality are two to three times higher among Blacks than other racial and ethnic groups.

While there is no cure for asthma, there are a variety of medical and environmental interventions and policies that can help people prevent asthma and control its symptoms so as to have a minimal effect on people's daily lives. This Plan outlines steps to reduce the impact of asthma on Californians.

This Plan builds upon considerable work over the last five years to implement the 2002 Strategic Plan for Asthma in California. This revised Plan includes specific goals and objectives in the areas of building infrastructure to address asthma: surveillance and research, health care, and indoor and outdoor environments.

The Plan is designed to help state agencies, health organizatons, and members of the community develop work plans for addressing asthma. While using this Plan, five important cross-cutting priorities should be taken into consideration: reducing asthma disparities, fostering asthma awareness and education, focusing on asthma throughout the lifespan, changing systems and policies within organizations, and creating the most health protective asthma policies.

To reach the five goals and forty objectives outlined here, new partnerships and collaborations will be needed. Working together over the next five years, state agencies, non-governmental organizations, communities, and concerned stakeholders can achieve many of the goals, objectives, and strategies outlined in this Plan, making California a healthier place for everyone, especially people with asthma.

The Strategic Plan for Asthma in California, 2008-2012, contains strategies for each objective along with sample performance indicators.