Four graduate students at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service partnered with the Clinton Climate Initiative’s Home Energy Affordability Loan (CCI-HEAL) program to explore the connection between baseline housing conditions, asthma prevalence, and related health care costs in Arkansas.
“The study, aimed at asthma-related health, draws connections to the state of housing in Arkansas,” said Ryan Boswell, Engagement Manager for CCI-HEAL. “Focused on a review of both healthy and energy-efficient homes, the report the team developed stresses the need for coordination between multiple stakeholders to ensure that Arkansas housing is promoting health in the state.”
Some of the project’s key findings in Arkansas:
- Fifteen percent of Arkansas children had ever been told by a doctor they have asthma.
- In 2014, asthma hospitalization costs exceeded $39.2 million in Arkansas, with total asthma costs estimated at $224 million in 2008.
- The CDC estimates remediating in-home triggers would prevent 39% of asthma in children under 6.
Clinton School of Public Service students, Austin Harrison of Louisville, Miss., Georgia Genoway of Liberia, Coby MacMaster of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and Maddy Salzman of Wellesley, Mass., examined secondary data and interviewed health and housing experts across Arkansas as part of their team-based, first-year Practicum project at the Clinton School.
About CCI-HEAL
The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization which operates the Clinton Climate Initiative’s HEAL program. The Clinton Climate Initiative develops scalable projects that can be tailored to local conditions while also serving as innovative models for tackling global climate change. Specifically, HEAL is the first of a new breed of employer-sponsored “energy benefits” which bring energy efficiency and sustainable practices to the workplace.
More information is available at https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-presidential-center/about/heal
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