Asthma is a serious public health issue in Mississippi, where it affects state residents disproportionately. Health-care access, poverty, and even the geography of the Mississippi Delta region are all considerations in addressing the state’s public health needs.

In order for state officials to implement specific intervention programs that help residents keep the disease under control, they need to know prevalence rates of asthma by gender, race, socioeconomic status (education & income), and county level.

These data are provided through BRFSS and the Asthma Call-back Survey (ACBS). Obtaining a good response rate for ACBS is challenging because of small sample size.

> See the box for details about asthma interventions in Mississippi.

> For more information about the Asthma Call-back survey, please visit the BRFSS website: http://go.usa.gov/3Zpb4

In Mississippi, asthma interventions include the following programs:

FLARE: Provides asthma education and device demonstration based on the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma (NAEPP EPR-3). Trained hospitals educate all patients and caregivers at discharge from an asthma-related hospitalization/emergency department visit.

School-based Asthma Management Program: A resource that helps schools in the state’s Delta and southwestern regions identify students with asthma, provide education to staff and students, and have written policies on file for each student with asthma.

Results of Participating in the ACBS

Asthma findings are disseminated to the public through surveillance reports and fact sheets posted on the Mississippi State Department of Health website. http://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/43,0,235,63.html .
The American Lung Association and the Mississippi State Department of Health also distribute reports and fact sheets to the state asthma coalitions and to other partners and stakeholders.
The state health department presents BRFSS-related results at Asthma Educator Institutes around the state.
Asthma information supported legislators and other decision- and policy makers as they enacted a comprehensive asthma law that was passed in 2010 and revised during the 2014 legislative session (SB2218 Mississippi Asthma and Anaphylaxis Child Safety Act). Asthma-related sections of the act gave students permission to carry and administer their asthma medication while at school; school nurses, teachers and other staff must attend asthma training; and schools must adopt an integrated pest management policy.