The National Asthma Council Australia (NAC) is a not-for-profit organisation. It consists of five members:

• The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand
• The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
• The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
• Asthma Foundations of Australia
• Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy

Vision

A community that recognises the impact of asthma as a social, economic and health issue, whose members share responsibility for the elimination of asthma and minimising the risks of asthma.

Mission

The mission of the NAC is to bring together all forms of endeavour in the field of asthma and associated conditions in order to improve the quality of life and health outcomes of people with asthma and their carers.

Business

The NAC is the lead agency for asthma and associated conditions:

• providing the latest information on asthma to health professionals directed at improving their quality of care;
• conducting and evaluating the delivery of national public awareness and education campaigns;
• being the national communicating authority on asthma;
• gathering, refining and disseminating information on asthma;
• taking on the role of a catalyst for change to facilitate improvement in the standards of asthma care and management.

Objectives

The objectives of the NAC are:

• to encourage and coordinate communication, collaboration and cooperation between the health professions, community organisations and the business community on issues relating to asthma in order to benefit and assist people with asthma and their carers;
• to formulate and implement campaigns to promote public awareness of asthma;
• to encourage health professionals to use recognised and accepted methods of diagnosis, treatment, management and care of people with asthma;
• to provide a forum for discussion and communication on asthma;
• to encourage the development of policies on asthma in conjunction with other interested bodies and individuals;
• to make representations to and consult with any government or government bodies or other authorities regarding asthma;
• to communicate and implement policies or consensus statements on issues related to asthma developed or adopted by NAC in relation to the diagnosis, treatment, management and care of people with asthma;
• to establish and maintain NAC as the national coordinating body for asthma issues and to maintain a high profile for NAC throughout Australia and internationally;
• to undertake, and to develop and promote priorities for, research into asthma, including aetiological, clinical, educational and epidemiological research, in order to assist in the development of an integrated framework for asthma research leading to improvement in health, social and economic outcomes.