Bringing attention to a disease that strikes one out of six children in the state, the American Lung Association of California has endorsed the California Department of Public Health's new five-year Strategic Plan for Asthma in California 2008-12.

The plan provides strategies to improve the health and quality of life of the more than 5 million Californians affected by asthma and outlines steps to reduce the disease's healthcare costs.

California hospitalizations totaled more than $736 million in 2005 alone.

California's new Strategic Plan for Asthma focuses on five goals and 40 objectives within the context of several crosscutting priorities: reducing asthma disparities, fostering awareness and education, focusing on asthma throughout life, creating institutional and systems change and promoting the most healthprotective asthma policies.

In addition to conducting asthma advocacy work and funding asthma-related research, the American Lung Association of California offers Open Airways for Schools, an education program for children with asthma in grades three through six, camps for children with asthma and Breathe Well, Live Well for adults.

Residents may also call the American Lung Association's multilingual Lung HelpLine at (800) LUNG-USA (586-4872) to speak with a nurse or respiratory therapist.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition of the lungs that makes it difficult to breathe. Triggers can include viral infections, allergies, indoor and outdoor air pollution and secondhand smoke.

For more information, visit www.californialung.org. To read the state's strategic plan, visit www.betterasthmacare.org.

In a Nutshell

California's new Strategic Plan for Asthma focuses on five goals and 40 objectives within the context of several crosscutting priorities: reducing asthma disparities, fostering awareness and education, focusing on asthma throughout life, creating institutional and systems change and promoting the most health-protective asthma policies.