In June 2011, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius joined with Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin and other government officials to unveil the National Prevention Strategy, which was mandated under the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.¹ The National Prevention Strategy outlines guidelines for preventing heart disease and other chronic health problems, including asthma. 

Patients who can least afford the health problems and financial burdens of asthma are at increased risk. According to a series of studies by Radim J. Sram, MD, DSc, and colleagues at the Laboratory of Genetic Ecotoxicology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine in the Czech Republic,² low-income and minority populations are at greatest risk of exposure to environmental pollutants, resulting in a higher risk of asthma. Moreover, children are generally more vulnerable to asthma-triggering environmental exposures than adults, largely because their body systems are still developing. According to the National Center for Health Statistics,³ nearly 1 in 10 children aged 17 years or younger has asthma—with African American children at greater risk of asthma (17%) than Hispanic or non-Hispanic white children. 

Furthermore, certain behaviors of children tend to expose them to chemicals and organisms that can trigger asthma attacks. For example, children often play close to the ground. Outdoors, this behavior can put them in contact with contaminated soil. Indoors, the behavior can put them in contact with contaminated carpet and surface dust. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)⁴ reports that children's asthma risks are greater compared to adults', because they have higher inhalation rates per unit of body weight, and they consume more asthma-triggering foods and beverages (eg, dairy products, peanuts).