The Chicago Asthma Consortium - A community coalition targeting reductionsin asthma morbidity

The problem of asthma in Chicago remains a complex one, and it is too early to know whether any programs and efforts have had a discernible effect, bu t the Chicago Asthma Consortium continues to expand its membership and to d efine its mission. The successes have come from harnessing the passion of t he individual members to move the projects forward. As the focus of the con sortium moves to addressing system-wide problems in asthma care and the del ivery of that care, the consortium is undertaking the construction of a gui de for future efforts. In this way the consortium will fulfill its vision o f creating a comprehensive, community-wide plan for the management of asthm a, impacting on the unacceptable current levels of morbidity and mortality of the disease.