The Need for Physician Awareness
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) published its consensus panel statement on celiac disease (CD) in 2004. This consensus statement called for better education of healthcare providers. The NIH estimates over 3,000,000 people in the US have celiac disease,  but few are diagnosed. Further, years of suffering may pass before a patient receives a definitive celiac disease diagnosis.

According to Joseph Murray, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, “The major challenge is not in confirming the diagnosis but in identifying those individuals who may have celiac disease and selecting the appropriate tests to screen for it. Many practitioners are not familiar with the many ways in which celiac disease presents or with the noninvasive methods available for identifying the disease.”

Awareness of Celiac disease is slowly increasing. There are 800,000 physicians in the US receptive to educational resources which will enable them to recognize and promptly diagnose celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

CSA Responds
CSA initiated a most ambitious celiac disease physician awareness program ever undertaken in the United States…The CSA Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity Physician Awareness Program (CSA-CAP).

CSA is perfectly suited to deliver focused information to physicians and medical students. As the largest non-profit celiac support
organization in the United States, CSA has 30+ years of experience providing resources to over 94,000 data base contacts, over 9,000 national members, and more chapters and resource units across the country. CSA consults with board certified medical advisors to develop educational materials.

CSA-CAP Goal
The goal of CSA-CAP is to increase the rate of assessment, diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity in the United States.

CSA-CAP Objectives

• Establish greater awareness of celiac disease and the importance of early diagnosis through working partnerships with the mainstream medical community and public.
• Compile a comprehensive set of educational materials on celiac disease and gluten sensitivity from noted medical sources--the CSA-CAP packet.
• Deliver CSA-CAP packets to 60,800 physicians and 10,000 medical students by 2012.
• Introduce physicians and medical students to CSA and its national programs, resources, and patient support chapters.

Partnering for Success
This working partnership between CSA and physicians will substantially raise the degree of suspicion necessary to identify at-risk patients and increase the rate of Celiac disease diagnosis and follow-up patient support. Through increased diagnosis and better management of celiac disease, this project will potentially improve the lives of millions of people who are presently suffering needlessly.

If you wish to have your physician receive a CSA-CAP packet with your $50 donation by contacting CSA at 1-877-CSA-4-CSA.