The United States National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) and Hip Hop Public Health (HHPH) have collaborated to develop and launch a free multimedia collection called EMPOWER. Consisting of eight original songs, animated videos and printable educational materials, EMPOWER “aims to inspire young people with asthma to take charge of their health with evidence-based, self-management skills.” “As young people move into their teen and young adult years, with greater independence and responsibility, taking ownership of their asthma management is essential for their health and wellbeing,” said Lori Rose Benson, HHPH executive director and CEO. “With the EMPOWER tools, providers will be able to offer culturally relevant asthma education to teens, as well as their crucial support network of friends and family, to help navigate the challenges of asthma,” commented Christy Haas-Howard, MPH, RN, health program director at NEEF.
A poster at the 2023 AAAAI Annual Meeting described results of a study about food allergy awareness on college campuses in the United States. “Previous research has shown that people with food allergies experience social events differently, causing exclusion, awkwardness and other feelings. As a result, food allergy education and knowledge are essential to improving food allergy management on college campuses,” said coauthor Kethan Bajaj. Responses to an online survey were collected from 193 students from 65 universities, with 38.3% of the respondents reporting they had a food allergy,” according to Healio, which also published the results. An independent reviewer observed the “most novel aspect of the poster was the reported support for improving food allergy education on college campuses. It is highly encouraging that most participants, including those with and without food allergy, expressed interest in attending an epinephrine autoinjector training course and learning more about assisting someone during an allergic reaction.”