Children With Asthma More Vulnerable to ...( The Philadelphia MCAN program has ...),Health

"The Philadelphia MCAN program has shown that we can help children manage their asthma and that means improved quality of life, significantly fewer trips to the ER or stays in the hospital, and best of all, more days in school," said Dr. Tyra Bryant-Stephens from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and co-lead investigator of the Philadelphia MCAN project. "Empowering caregivers and children with this knowledge has helped to greatly decrease the school days missed by children in Philadelphia, a segment of the nearly 13 million schools days missed each year by the millions of children nationwide that have been diagnosed with asthma."

About MCAN

The Merck Childhood Asthma Network (MCAN) is a separately incorporated, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization established to address the complex and growing problem of pediatric asthma. MCAN is funded by the Merck Company Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck & Co., Inc. Led by Floyd Malveaux, M.D., Ph.D., a nationally recognized expert in asthma and allergic diseases and former Dean of the Howard University College of Medicine, MCAN is specifically focused on enhancing access to quality asthma care and management for children in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mcanonline.org.

About the Philadelphia MCAN Project

The Philadelphia MCAN project aims to improve asthma outcomes for children and to reduce school absenteeism through integration of asthma-related programs/services and improved asthma management. The program implements scientifically proven asthma interventions by using a community-based approach which integrates individual families, community agencies, schools and health care providers. During the past three years, partners have worked collaboratively to improve asthma management for urban, disadvantaged children in Philadelphia
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