The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its Public Health Strategic Framework for COPD Prevention recognizing COPD as a serious public health problem. This report serves as a guide for addressing COPD on a national scale.
“This represents a giant step forward for the COPD community,” Dr. David Mannino, member of the U.S.COPD Coalition Executive Committee and Professor of Medicine at the University of Kentucky, says. “Approaching COPD as a public health problem involves a collaborative effort from patients, their caretakers, physicians, payers, and governmental agencies. These are the groups that will be convening in Washington in December at the Second National COPD Conference to discuss this report and examine other opportunities to improve the lives of our COPD patients.”
In the Spring of 2010 the CDC and several partners, including many of the U.S. COPD Coalition member organizations, created a working group to explore the current state of COPD and produced a set of four goals for a nation-wide strategy to address COPD.
The four goals outlined in the report are:
- Surveillance and evaluation: improve collection, analysis, dissemination, and reporting of COPD-related public health data
- Public health research and prevention strategies: improve understanding of COPD development, prevention, and treatment
- Programs and policies: increase effective collaboration among stakeholders with COPD-related interests
- Communication: heighten awareness of COPD among a broad spectrum of stakeholders and decision makers
While this report is a step in the right direction much work is left to be done. Increased COPD advocacy will be needed to encourage Congress to fund the report’s implementation as well as continued efforts on the state level.
The First National COPD Conference in 2003 spurred the creation of several new COPD campaigns including the formation of state COPD Coalitions which have created and implemented state-wide action plans to increase COPD awareness and education. While this new CDC provides direction for national action, these state COPD Coalitions will be essential for implementing these strategies and providing momentum for a national movement.
The Second National COPD Conference will convene December 2nd and 3rd in Crystal City, VA, offering the community a chance to gather and reflect on a decade of progress and rededicate ourselves to fight COPD in a coordinated and comprehensive way as the CDC report suggests.
To read the full report click here