PRONET Fact Sheet: Allergy Inspections in Schools

A good school indoor enviro nment is important for all children, especially for those with asthma and allergies. Some pupils have severe symptoms and many children have to take medicine or miss school due t o air pollution in the school environment. Since allergies among children are common and incr easing (currently 5-10% of the school children have asthma), it is important to improve the in door environment in schools.

A measure that is easy accessible and relatively inexpensive in improving indoor environment for allergic children in schools, is a checklist that evaluates potential health hazards in schools (e.g. the cleaning process, use of chemicals). This checklist could be introduced on a national or regional level. It is important to find people within the school that feel responsible for using the checklist and will do so on a yearly basis. These people should be well-informed. This can be reached by organising workshops. The content of the checklist should be developed by indoor environment experts.

See attached fact sheet from the PRONET project describing this measure.

Various studies show a benefit with the presence of endotoxin, a protein that influences the immune system to not make allergies, during the early years of life. Household dogs are a common source of endotoxin, and the presence of 2 or more indoor dogs during childhood has been shown to reduce the occurrence of asthma.