Working in the community to help fight childhood asthma

Asthma is a manageable disease, yet some of the current approaches to address the disease fail to reach those who would benefit from them most—particularly patients in communities with inadequate access to medical care.

In 2005, we established the independent, nonprofit Merck Childhood Asthma Network with the goal of promoting effective, real-world responses to this growing public-health crisis. MCAN supports academic research to bring measurable quality-of-life improvements to children with asthma and their families.

MCAN focuses on encouraging government, healthcare professionals, community leaders and academia to work together to:

improve access to and quality of asthma healthcare services for children,

enhance knowledge about asthma among affected individuals and the general public,

foster asthma-friendly schools and communities,

promote asthma-safe home environments,

reduce socioeconomic disparities in childhood asthma outcomes.

MCAN’s strategy

MCAN’s primary function is to fund academic research into childhood asthma intervention programs. The results of this research help MCAN understand which intervention programs are the most successful and most suitable for integration into successful community healthcare systems.

In November 2005, MCAN awarded its first grants to childhood asthma programs in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Puerto Rico. Today, MCAN continues to support these programs both logistically and financially and to work with various public and private partners to identify additional opportunities for improving the quality and accessibility of pediatric asthma care.

Asthma is a debilitating illness that places enormous burdens on families, on schools and on the entire healthcare system. With the full financial support of The Merck Company Foundation, MCAN hopes to lessen those burdens in immediate and measurable ways. – Merck