AAFA has launched the Health Equity Advancement and Leadership (HEAL) program to address findings from its 2020 report about asthma disparities in America. Each year, the HEAL Innovation program will award funding and resources to four local, pilot, community-based asthma programs tailored to at-risk populations most impacted by asthma and will focus on needs of adults and teens.
AAFA is the world’s oldest and largest non-profit patient organization for people with asthma, allergies and related conditions. In 2020, it published a 15-year update to its report, “Asthma Disparities in America: A Roadmap to Reducing Burden on Racial and Ethnic Minorities.” The report was intended “to serve as a national call to action to fix the social inequities caused by structural racism that continue to plague vulnerable, at-risk patients and families with asthma.” In 2022, AAFA launched the Health Equity Advancement and Leadership (HEAL) program to address findings from the report. As part of the HEAL program, AAFA announced HEAL Innovation, whose overall goal is to reduce mortality and morbidity among high-risk populations by partnering with and strengthening local community programs.