May is National Arthritis Month. Arthritis and other rheumatic conditions
are the leading cause of disability in the United States, affecting approximately
43 million persons in 1998, and may affect 60 million by 2020
(1). On May 18, 2000, the Arthritis Foundation is sponsoring Arthritis Action Day to bring
national attention to this public health problem. In addition, the Arthritis Foundation,
in collaboration with CDC and other organizations, will implement strategies of
the National Arthritis Action Plan: A Public Health
Strategy (NAAP) (2) to promote progress toward reaching the arthritis national health objectives for 2010
(3) and to increase collaboration between the 38 CDC-funded state arthritis programs
and state Arthritis Foundation chapters.
Additional information about arthritis, National Arthritis Month,
Arthritis Action Day, NAAP, and ongoing local Arthritis Foundation programs and
services is available from the Arthritis Foundation, telephone (800) 283-7800, or on
the World-Wide Web at http://www.arthritis.org.*
References
CDC. Arthritis prevalence and activity limitations---United States, 1990.
MMWR 1994;43:433--8.
Arthritis Foundation, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and
CDC. National Arthritis Action Plan: a public health strategy. Atlanta, Georgia:
Arthritis Foundation, 1999.
US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy people 2010 (conference ed.,
2 vols). Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000.
* References to sites of nonfederal organizations on the World-Wide Web are provided as
a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply endorsement of these
organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is
not
responsible for the content of pages found at these sites.
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