Advancing Health Equity in Asthma Control through EXHALE Strategies | CDC RFA EH 24 0016

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA EH 24 0016

Advancing Health Equity in Asthma Control through EXHALE Strategies (CDC RFA EH 24 0016) is a CDC National Asthma Control Program cooperative agreement that funds non-research, public health implementation work aimed at improving asthma control and quality of life, with a clear focus on reducing inequities. The opportunity builds on prior CDC investments in state, local, and territorial asthma control efforts (including work previously supported under CDC-RFA-EH19-1902) and is designed to help communities scale what is already known to work, especially for populations experiencing disproportionate asthma burden.

The grant is grounded in the public health reality that asthma remains common, expensive, and too often deadly despite the availability of effective treatments. CDC cites national estimates showing nearly 25 million people in the United States live with asthma, including millions of children, and that asthma leads to substantial emergency department use, hospitalizations, missed school and workdays, and large economic costs. The NOFO highlights that, on average, about 10 people die from asthma each day in the U.S., underscoring that preventable outcomes continue to occur at a meaningful rate.

A central driver for this funding is the persistence of major disparities by race, ethnicity, and income. The NOFO emphasizes that non-Hispanic Black/African American, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native communities carry a disproportionate share of asthma burden, and it notes stark outcome differences such as non-Hispanic Black individuals being nearly three times as likely to die from asthma compared with white individuals. It also points out that people from Puerto Rico experience higher asthma prevalence than other U.S. populations. In practical terms, the grant is meant to move beyond individual-level education alone and instead address the systems, environmental conditions, and social factors that help produce these unequal outcomes.

Programmatically, the opportunity is organized around CDCs EXHALE technical package, a set of six evidence-based strategies intended to work best as a coordinated, multi-component approach rather than isolated activities. EXHALE stands for: Education on asthma self-management; eXtinguishing smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke; Home visits for trigger reduction and asthma self-management education; Achievement of guidelines-based medical management; Linkages and coordination of care; and Environmental policies or best practices that reduce indoor and outdoor triggers. The NOFOs logic is that implementing these strategies together, through strong cross-sector partnerships, can reduce exacerbations, improve control, and narrow gaps in outcomes.

Recipients are expected to strengthen organizational infrastructure that makes asthma control efforts durable and scalable. That includes leadership and program management capacity, strategic partnerships, surveillance to understand burden and track progress, communications to reach priority populations and partners, and evaluation to measure what is being implemented and what impact it is having. A major emphasis is leveraging and expanding partnerships across sectors that influence asthma outcomes, such as community- and faith-based groups, organizations serving racial and ethnic minority communities, tribal entities, schools and transportation systems, housing and healthcare systems, and nongovernmental organizations, along with direct engagement of community members. The intent is to expand reach and improve sustainability so that effective asthma control services and policies persist beyond short-term projects.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary cooperative agreement (meaning CDC will typically have substantial involvement through technical assistance and collaboration rather than simply issuing a pass-through grant). The activity category is health, under CFDA 93.070, and the eligible applicant pool is broad, spanning state, county, and city governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status. The funding opportunity was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), with an original closing date of April 19, 2024. The award ceiling is listed as $725,000, and CDC anticipated making 28 awards.

Overall, the grant is best understood as a coordinated, equity-focused asthma control implementation initiative: it funds recipients to build or reinforce the public health infrastructure and partnerships needed to deliver the EXHALE strategies at scale, with the explicit goal of reducing preventable asthma emergencies and deaths while closing longstanding racial, ethnic, and income-related gaps in asthma outcomes.

• The Centers for Disease Control - NCEH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Advancing Health Equity in Asthma Control through EXHALE Strategies" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.070.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-02-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-19. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $725,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 28 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Unrestricted.

Apply for CDC RFA EH 24 0016

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