Imagine trying to catch your breath through a soda straw. Now imagine learning to read at the same time. That's the challenge of asthma, the lung disease with the fastest growing incidence in the US and in the world.
Until all air is clean air, our children need informed and motivated adults to watch over and help achieve clean air in school zones–a place where extraordinary numbers of children congregate to play and learn.
The Asthma Free School Zone (AFSZ) serves NYC schools and their surrounding communities by designating school zones with special signage; conducting environmental assessments and ambient air sampling; providing asthma and environmental health training to school and community members. The aim is to keep children in class by improving the air quality inside and outside of class.
The AFSZ program began in 2002 in one school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It now operates citywide in nearly 100 public and parochial schools that serve over 40,000 children and 5,000 teachers in the New York City public school system. |
