AANMA, American Academy of Pediatrics Promote Family-Centered Asthma and Allergy Care

VIENNA, Va., March 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA), a leading nonprofit patient education organization, is partnering with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to improve childhood asthma, allergy and anaphylaxis care nationwide.

AANMA will expand AAP's Medical Home Chapter Champions Program on Asthma, a network of volunteer pediatricians across the country, to address allergy and anaphylaxis care. The goal is to promote team-based, family-centered care coordination and co-management among patients, primary care pediatricians and pediatric asthma and allergy specialists.

"Pediatricians are often front and center when it comes to diagnosing and treating childhood asthma and allergies," says Tonya Winders, AANMA president and CEO. "By partnering with AAP, we further broaden our patient-centered network of health care professionals and encourage referrals and shared resources among pediatricians and subspecialists."

The network will also distribute best practices, evidence-based guidelines and resources in asthma and allergy care to pediatricians in their states and serve as advocates for legislative change at local, state and national levels.

"The partnership with AANMA will open new and exciting opportunities for the chapter champions program," says Chuck Norlin, MD, FAAP, chairperson of the AAP's program advisory committee. "The program will continue to support a robust established network of pediatricians in the provision of care for children with asthma and allergies within the family-centered medical home," says Dr. Norlin. "The program also will provide deeper education and training of clinicians through quality improvement and policy opportunities."

More than 7 million children in the United States have asthma, 6.7 million have environmental allergies and 4.1 million have food allergies, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).

About AANMA

Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) is the leading national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending needless death and suffering due to asthma, allergies and related conditions. AANMA specializes in sharing family-friendly, medically accurate information through its award-winning publication Allergy & Asthma Today magazine, E-newsletter, website at http://www.aanma.org and numerous community outreach programs. Follow AANMA on Facebook at facebook.com/AANMA and on Twitter at twitter.com/AANMA. Join AANMA at http://www.aanma.org/join.

About AAP

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 62,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. Visit http://www.aap.org.

SOURCE Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics