Children and adolescents spend a lot of time in school where it is possible that critical allergic episodes occur. Also, there is some lack of knowledge of staff and teachers about how to assist a child in an emergency situation, especially if he or she is having an allergic reaction to something.
Due to the need to improve care, knowledge, monitoring, and education regarding asthma, the Children's Asthma Prevention Program (Programa Infantil de Prevenção de Asma, PIPA) was implemented along with an allergic diseases program at schools - the VIDA program (Portuguese acronym for Overcoming Allergic Diseases in Children) - to improve the monitoring of allergic episodes in children at schools.
By simple and cooperative action among health teams, school authorities, parents, and the community, the school can act on prevention and recognition of symptoms, which in turn ensures better assistance to allergic children in a school environment.
This multidisciplinary intervention in schools should be extended to other regions, where the relatives of allergic children do not feel safe and welcomed when they put their children in school, thus improving the integration of children into school and with their peers.