"While current efforts to control asthma are showing success, the burden of asthma in San Diego County continues to fall most heavily on the most vulnerable part of our society: children, the poor, and minority groups," said Pradeep Gidwani, MD, MPH, clinical chair of the San Diego Regional Asthma Coalition.

The report card looks at data from eight different state and local organizations, including San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, the United Way of San Diego, and the San Diego Association of Governments. The data show that hospitalizations, 911 calls, and deaths due to asthma have been gradually declining over the past few years. However, people living in urban San Diego County, especially African-Americans, have shared these gains less than others and in fact experience higher rates of hospitalization due to asthma.

Releasing the Asthma Report Card on World Asthma Day, the Coalition is making the report available online and distributing it within the community. Dr. Gidwani said, "Our coalition worked with interested government agencies to develop and create this report on how asthma is affecting our community."

"Improved reporting systems for asthma in schools and hospitals will allow us to be more precise in targeting our efforts to reduce the burden of asthma in our County," he said.

The Coalition will update the Report annually. This first Report Card was made possible through funds from the office of Supervisor Ron Roberts, the San Diego Childhood Asthma Initiative, and The California Endowment. Copies of the San Diego County Asthma Report Card are available online at www.lungsandiego.org or by contacting Coalition Coordinator Joni T. Low at 619-297-3901or joni@lungsandiego.org.

Dr. Howard Taras, Physician Consultant to the San Diego Unified School District, said, "Thanks to legislation by Assembly Members Wilma Chan and Sarah Reyes, students responsible enough to carry and use their own asthma inhalers at school may soon be guaranteed the right to do so."