Asthma may be the number one single reason that children are absent from school. Up to 35% of school absences have been attributed to asthma related symptoms among school age children, ranging up to 20 days per school year. Reported rates of asthma may not be accurate due to undiagnosed asthma and over half of school children are not aware that they might have asthma. Absence measures are not an indicator of days where a child has functioning/learning loss due to asthma related symptoms, but are not absent from school. Asthma symptoms in school age children may impact their education from both absenteeism as well as attention ability while in school. Additionally, absenteeism of a child will have a direct impact as well on the parent/care-givers work and productivity. The prevalence, morbidity and more importantly, mortality from asthma have increased consistently over the past decade Although the increase has occurred throughout the United States, the most prominent rise in asthma mortality among African-Americans has occurred in the north-central region of the United States. The majority of this increase has occurred in inner-city areas.

The project is an implementation of a number of interventions to reduce morbidity due to asthma. The primary implementation method is through enhancement of the Health Services capability of school districts access to an acting Medical Director, allowing greater health outreach in schools performed by school nurses, linkages with primary care physicians to promote updated asthma action plans and treatment measures, and education. Through school nurses high-risk students and their families are identified for asthma management education and other health and social service referrals. Additional interventions also include alternate educational resources, and improving connections to parents and the community. It is anticipated that these efforts for a program delivered through schools will bring about positive results with fewer asthma symptoms, fewer school days missed, less use of urgent care resources and a better quality of life for these children.