Sample Media Advisory

Use this text in your Press Release to inform the media about World Asthma Day and Asthma Awareness Month. Insert local details and quotes from your representatives in the highlighted spaces provided.

 

SAMPLE MEDIA ADVISORY

 

Media Contacts
Local Health Department, Phone number / E-mail address

 

World Asthma Day Is May 3, 2022
May is Asthma Awareness Month

 

Asthma is a disease that affects your lungs. It causes repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. Asthma can be controlled by taking medicine and avoiding the triggers that can cause an attack. You must also remove the triggers in your environment that can make your asthma worse.

Asthma attacks cause adults to miss work and children to miss school. These dangerous and sometimes life-threatening episodes reduce the quality of life for people with asthma. The good news is that we can raise awareness about asthma and how it can be controlled.

People with asthma can prevent asthma attacks if they learn how to avoid asthma triggers like tobacco smoke, mold, outdoor air pollution, and colds and flu. Asthma episodes can also be prevented by using inhaled corticosteroids and other prescribed daily long-term control medicines correctly.

(If desired, insert quote from public health official regarding a relevant asthma-related topic. It could be about the importance of raising awareness and increasing asthma control potential.)

Studies show that less than half of people with asthma report being taught how to avoid triggers. Almost half of adults who were taught how to avoid triggers did not follow most of this advice.

(Add details about local activities and/or insert another quote from your organization if desired.)

To raise awareness about the health consequences and personal and financial costs of asthma, (insert health department name here) is participating in World Asthma Day on May 3, 2022, and Asthma Awareness Month throughout May. (Name of health department) joins the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) in encouraging people with asthma to learn more about how to control asthma and prevent asthma episodes.

This year’s theme for World Asthma Day is “Closing Gaps in Asthma Care“.

It’s Time to Control Asthma in (city/county/locality) and throughout the world. To learn more about asthma control and management, visit CDC at www.cdc.gov/asthma. To learn how to raise awareness about asthma, visit GINA at www.ginasthma.orgexternal icon and use CDC’s Online Asthma Awareness Toolkit (https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/world_asthma_day.htm). For air quality information, visit EPA AirNow at www.enviroflash.infoexternal icon.

Page last reviewed: April 12, 2022