Better air quality data needed for Iowa communities with high asthma rates

Environmentalists say they need better data on what's in the air Iowans are breathing.

They said that's especially true for communities with high asthma rates, such as Council Bluffs.

Martha Burchett makes the drive from Harlan to Council Bluffs to see a doctor for reactive airway disease.

"It is hard for me to breathe some days," Burchett said.

So air quality — and air quality monitoring — is on her mind.

Her doctor, Sumit Mukherjee, MD, agrees, and pointed to alarming data.

Omaha is the 18th worst place to live with asthma, per the Asthma and Allergy Foundation's 2023 report. And only seven metro areas have a worse asthma-related death rate.

"Looking at data to be able to analyze around the Omaha metro area, why that is exactly," Dr. Mukherjee said. "I think is very beneficial."

KETV: Better air quality data needed for Iowa communities with high asthma rates