This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
REMARKS BY: DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: White House Event on Asthma, Washington, D.C. DATE: January 28, 1999
Earlier this week I was doing an event with the Vice-President celebrating the progress we've made with Head Start. Two young Head Start children decided to join in the action. They stood on chairs next to the Vice-President. One calmly. The other with a bit more enthusiasm. He was climbing on the podium. Playing with the mic. Reordering the Vice-President's note cards. And generally delighting everyone in the room - especially Vice-President Gore.
I mention this because as I was watching these two wonderful children, I couldn't help but think: This is what childhood should be all about. Uninhibited. Curious. Adventurous. Fun. And for most children it is.
But for children with asthma, life can be anything but fun.
Here is how one mother describes her family's ordeal: "My son has had chronic asthma since he was 18 months old. That means we ask the same questions again and again. Did you do your second puff? Did you rinse your mouth? Have you packed the nebulizer? Do you have the prescription? It means his dad and I stay watchful because every season brings its own danger. Pollen in the spring. Heat in the summer. Mold in the fall. Infection in the winter. It means that every day events, like visits with friends who have cats, require vigilance. Most of all, it means a cough is not just a cough."
The number of families living a similar nightmare is growing.
In fact there's an epidemic of asthma in the United States. Between 1980 and 1994, the number of Americans with asthma increased 75 percent, and percentage of pre-school children with asthma increased 160 percent. Today, almost 5 million children have asthma - which makes asthma the number one chronic disease of childhood.
Asthma has a ripple effect too. Not only does it keep children in fear and pain - it keeps them out of school. In every classroom with 30 children, there are likely to be at least two with asthma. That adds up to over ten million school days lost to asthma each year. And, again, the problem is not just children. Over the past 15 years, the number of Americans suffering from asthma has doubled to 15 million. This disease kills over 5,000 Americans every year - and sends almost a half million to the hospital. As serious as asthma is, it doesn't strike evenly. Minorities and the poor are hit especially hard.
We still don't know exactly what causes this chronic lung disease - although it's likely be a combination of genetic and environmental factors. But under the leadership of the President and First Lady, we're fighting back - with more money, more research, and more teamwork to prevent and treat asthma. That's why in addition to the President's Task Force that Administrator Browner and I co-chair, the Department of Health and Human Services is investing more than $120 million in asthma research - up almost 100 percent since 1993.
This money will be used to understand what causes asthma, to carry out important clinical studies that focus on the prevention and treatment of asthma, and to get new knowledge to schools, families and asthma sufferers.
We've also brought together the best minds from NIH, FDA, CDC, the Health Care Financing Administration, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the Indian Health Service and other HHS agencies to work on a comprehensive strategy for researching asthma and unlocking its secrets.
We're partnering with many private organizations to raise awareness - and educate families and communities about how to manage asthma.
Simply put, we must find the cause of asthma - and learn how to prevent it.
We must reduce the burden of people living with asthma.
We must eliminate the disparities in who falls victim to asthma.
And we must track the disease and measure the progress we're making against asthma.
I already mentioned one family's day to day struggle with asthma. But there are millions of others. One of them is Jacy Hass and her daughter Niki. Niki and her mom are both fighters. They know this struggle is far from over. But they also know that with education, effective medication and support from their community they will win this fight.
It's my pleasure to introduce a real hero in the battle against asthma, Jacy Hass.
Jacy . . .