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Asthma kills over a thousand people every year - a child is admitted to hospital every 19 minutes, yet asthma is not high on the agenda for many healthcare professionals as it is not considered ‘serious’ or life-threatening. However, unfortunately many people do have symptoms that interfere with their daily lives, many live in fear of an attack and tragically, many die unnecessarily. The UK has one of the highest rates of asthma symptoms in children in the world and astonishingly, an Asthma UK survey of people working in the early years sector revealed that 68% had received no asthma training and 42% had no instruction from parents on the child’s medication. The shocking fact is that children in some early years sector settings could be at risk due to lack of understanding of their condition and insufficient treatment, leaving them vulnerable to a life-threatening attack in an environment where no one is equipped to take action. Asthma UK creates programmes that will make a difference to people with asthma in both the short and long term to ensure: Control over asthma today, freedom from asthma tomorrow. Alert to Asthma and Asthma Aces are two programmes aimed at children with asthma. Both programmes are about educating healthcare professionals, carers, education workers and peers of children with asthma; so that children with asthma are in a safe environment with people who can give them the vital help they might need in the event of an asthma attack. 90% of deaths from asthma are preventable – Alert to Asthma and Asthma Aces are aimed at these children. ‘There is someone in the nursery who is responsible for administering asthma medicine. I spoke to her to ensure that she understood what to do. It became clear that she didn't even know how to use a spacer. I’ve explained this and asked our local asthma nurse to speak to the nursery but I’m still worried as I’m not convinced they'll know what to do next time.’ Parent
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Asthma UK is dedicated to improving the health and well being of people with asthma: We provide information, advice and support services, and work to influence policy affecting people in a range of areas eg health, education and the environment. Asthma UK is also one of the country’s leading funders of asthma research, essential for developing new treatments for people with asthma and a future free from asthma. The need  There were over 1,300 deaths from asthma in the UK in 2005 - on average, one person every seven hours dies from asthma.  The UK has one of the highest rates of asthma symptoms in children in the world.  Over one million children in the UK have asthma, according to a survey we did with Blue Peter, 43% of children with asthma report that their daily activites are disrupted.  Evidence shows that 90% of deaths from asthma are preventable. With more understanding about managing the symptoms of asthma and education from an early age, Asthma UK aims to significantly decrease the number of unnecessary attacks while increasing the number of people managing their symptoms. It is also our aim to inform those without asthma about the difficulties for people with asthma and equip them with the skills to deal with someone having an asthma attack. These steps can save lives: 1. Alert to Asthma is actively increasing understanding of asthma management for pre-school and young children with asthma, and increasing understanding of the needs of children with asthma for their carers and healthcare professionals. Alert to Asthma is running in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and offers information sessions for people working in the early years sector and in primary schools. The session is a workshop informing carers and teachers about asthma in children under 11, offering guidance on how to support them in an early years environment. Asthma UK Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is now seeking support for the next phase of the project, which has already reached over 550 early years carers throughout Scotland, 320 in Wales, and 520 in Northern Ireland, with great success. We now seek to extend the benefits to all local authority areas, and potentially introduce them into England. Ultimately, the project aims to ensure that all children in early years and primary school settings can be free from the impact of asthma, by teaching those who work with children to reduce the risks around them. 93% of participants felt that they did not know enough about asthma before the training. After the session, only 9% still felt that they did not know enough about asthma. 2. Asthma Aces is a project aimed at increasing the understanding of asthma and managing the symptoms, including asthma attacks, amongst young people in order that they understand the seriousness of asthma and know what to do if someone around them has an asthma attack. An Asthma ACE =  Asthma Alert  Asthma Confident  Asthma Educated Asthma UK would like to turn every child in the UK into an Asthma ACE - someone who knows what to do if they or someone around them has an asthma attack. Asthma ACEs will be recruited through an online, interactive resource providing educational activities and an online quiz. Those who successfully complete the quiz get an Asthma ACE certificate and badge. Further recruitment will be via school packs with lesson plans and activities for participating Asthma ACE schools and a community pack for participating Asthma ACE community and youth groups. The benefits:  reducing the impact of asthma on children’s lives through knowledge and understanding of their condition and of those around them  providing UK children with the know-how to act quickly in the event of an asthma attack  reducing bullying and exclusion  improved asthma management throughout childhood and into adulthood  increased participation by children with asthma in pre-school and school activities  reduction in absences from pre-school and school amongst children with asthma  reduction in the number of asthma attacks amongst children in early years settings  reduction in the number of hospital admissions for asthma attacks amongst children in early years settings  reduction in the number of asthma deaths amongst young children. For further information about Asthma UK’s work please go to www.asthma.org.uk or contact our Major Supporter Team on 020 7786 4971/5002.