Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children, and rates are rising in adults. Over 28 million people in the United States now have asthma.
Asthma is a chronic disease that causes airways to become swollen and inflamed. Asthma can lead to medical emergencies and death. There is no cure for asthma, but with the right medicines and interventions, it can be managed and controlled.
The National Asthma Control Program (NACP) is a public health program administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under its Air Quality and Asthma branch. Its goals include reducing the number of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, school/work days missed, and activity limitations due to asthma.
Based on the most recent data available from the CDC, asthma mortality has dropped to the lowest it’s been since the CDC’s NACP and asthma surveillance began in 1999, even though overall lifetime prevalence has increased. This means interventions and education that promote asthma control are working.
It’s why we can’t lose progress now. Since 1999, the program has contributed to a reduction in asthma mortality by 44%, despite a rise in lifetime asthma prevalence over the same period.
The EXHALE strategies
The CDC’s NACP provides funding and support to state, territory, and municipal health departments to reduce asthma morbidity and mortality and human exposure to air pollutants, allergens, tobacco, mold, and wildfires. Participating states report up to 80% reductions in asthma-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations among their asthma program participants.
The NACP promotes a set of 6 strategies to manage and control asthma:
E – Education on asthma self-management
X – X-tinguishing smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke
H – Home visits and assessments for trigger reduction and asthma self-management education
A – Achievement of guidelines-based medical management
L – Linkages and care coordination of care across settings
E – Environmental policies or best practices to reduce asthma triggers from indoor, outdoor, or occupational sources
The EXHALE strategies have been highly effective at reducing healthcare costs – for every $1 invested, the NACP saved an average of $71 in healthcare costs.
Supporting NACP funding
The CDC’s National Asthma Control Program is at risk of ending. The entire staff of the Asthma & Air Quality branch and the NACP were recently part of the federal employee reductions in force that occurred in April 2025. Current funding for the program ends in September 2025. Historically, the program has been appropriated by Congress with strong bipartisan support. This is the only federal program that addresses asthma prevention, control, and surveillance.
If funding and resources end for the program, it will affect health departments and hospitals across the nation. States rely on the data, guidance, or funding support from the CDC to administer their own local asthma programs. Without the NACP, the United States will not be able to track asthma rates or target asthma interventions where they are most needed, which impedes the ability to save healthcare costs and lives.
