U.S. asthma morbidity and mortality disproportionately affects minority communities. African Americans are more likely to visit an ED or be hospitalized for asthma. Furthermore, asthma mortality is twice more likely among African Americans and Hispanics than Whites. Reducing the asthma health disparities is a goal of Healthy People 2010. In the last decade a number of efforts have taken place around the country to address this problem. The overall objective of this conference grant is to develop a parsimonious set of recommendations that can serve as """"""""next steps,"""""""" for the research, clinical, policy, and consumer communities to use in reducing asthma disparities. To achieve this objective we plan the following specific aims: 1) To conduct a 2-day national conference to identify critical and practical 'next steps' to take in reducing asthma health disparities. In order to achieve this goal we plan on assembling a multi-disciplinary group of national experts in the fields of clinical research, clinical practice implementation, health care administration, minority health, health services research, public health practice, health care financing, health policy, and of course consumer advocacy. In the format of a two-day conference this group of experts will seek to review key issues underlying asthma health disparities, consider current research, clinical care, and policy that are seeking to address this problem, and then develop a practical set of recommendations for reducing these disparities through new research opportunities, proposed new directions in clinical and public policy, and innovative consumer strategies to promote change. 2) To develop from the conference a set of core dissemination tools that will provide the source for communicating conference recommendations to key audiences. 3) To conduct a targeted set of highly leveraged post-conference dissemination activities to communication the conference recommendations to key audiences.
