AAFWA Schools
Scroll Down
- Phone: +220 375 8838
- Email: [email protected]
Scroll Down
School-based asthma education is an important component of a comprehensive asthma management plan. The objective of the AAFWA Schools Project is to help School going children with asthma to receive proper support at school to keep their asthma under control and be fully active. Asthma that is not properly treated or controlled can hinder a student’s attendance, participation and progress in school.
Uncontrolled asthma can also reduce a child’s quality of life by causing nights of lost sleep, restriction of activities, a reduction in a child’s ability to learn, disruption of family routines and life threatening situations.
Creating asthma friendly schools enable students with asthma to:
• Maximize their potential for growth, development and achievement;
• Experience positive educational, social and health benefits; and
• Develop lifelong skills for managing their asthma.
Schools that create asthma friendly and supportive environments can expect the following positive results:
• Reduced student absenteeism;
• Reduced disruption in the classroom;
• Appropriate management of asthma episodes and emergencies; and
• Full student participation in physical activities, learning and social engagement.
Sadly, Asthma-friendly schools are presently non-existent in West Africa. No legislation that requires schools board to develop an asthma policy. No legislation that requires Schools to develop an individual plan for every student with asthma
• Because Asthma friendly and supportive schools are non-existent here, there is nothing like school asthma policy or education for staff.
• There is no established process to identify students with asthma
• There is no established process for handling worsening asthma.
• There is no established process for identifying and reducing common asthma triggers within the school environment.
• There is nothing like school nurses to care for children with asthma or other disease conditions.
• There is nothing like a Personal Asthma Action Plan for children and other asthma patients.
AAFWA’s Programme
The programme will work with school staff, healthcare providers, and families to make schools more asthma-friendly to promote student health and education through the following activities:
(i) Identify the number of Asthma patients in all the schools in countries we operate.
(ii) Identify students who are the most affected by asthma at school and offer them assistance.
(iii) Establish the number of school-age children unable to attend school due to asthma.
(iv) Encourage children to assess videos and other online resources on managing asthma.
(v) Visit schools to raise awareness about asthma.
(vi) Train members of Red Cross Society (RCS) in schools on how to respond when a student experiences an asthma attack; help the formation of RCS in schools where there is none.
(vii) Provide asthma education for students with asthma and awareness programs for students, school staff, parents, and families.
(viii) Work towards a safe and healthy school environment to reduce asthma triggers.
(ix) Place Asthma awareness handbook in every school.
(x) Display Managing Asthma Attacks posters in schools.
(xi) Ensure that the school buildings and grounds are free of tobacco smoke at all times.
(xii) Ensure that all students with asthma have updated asthma action plans on file at the school.
(xiii) Ensure there is a nurse specifically attached to a group of schools ; help students with their medicines, and help them be active in physical education, sports, recess, and field trips. The nurse will also be regularly available to write plans and give the school guidance on these issues
(xiv) The school nurse or other asthma education experts will occasionally teach school staff about asthma, asthma action plans, and asthma medicines; instruct students about asthma and how to help a classmate with asthma.
(xv) Ensure that schools have good indoor air quality.
(xvi) Ensure the school help to reduce or prevent students’ contact with allergens or irritants, indoors and outdoors, like tobacco smoke, pollens, animal dander, mold, dust mites, cockroaches, and strong odors or fumes from things like bug spray, paint, perfumes, and cleaners that can make their asthma worse.
AAFWA plans to establish its own Asthma-friendly schools in order to create safe and supportive learning environments for students with asthma and allergies and with policies and procedures that allow students to manage their asthma. Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia and Guinea Bissau will each host a school. The schools will also admit non-asthma students. The asthma-friendly and supportive school will:
• Reduce exposure to asthma triggers;
• Ensure that staff are prepared to identify and handle worsening asthma and asthma emergencies;
• Have the right equipment to manage asthma emergencies.
• Maintains at least two Asthma Emergency Kits
• Know which students have asthma and/or use asthma medicine;
• Ensure that reliever medications are easily accessible to students with asthma;
• Facilitate full participation of students with asthma in all activities, including physical activity and play;
• Provide learning opportunities for students, parents/guardians and school staff to learn about asthma;
• Work with students, parents/guardians, health care professionals and community organizations to successfully manage asthma.
• All school staff members should be prepared to handle an asthma or breathing emergency.
• Offer asthma education to all students with and without asthma. All students should understand asthma, know what to do in case a classmate has a breathing emergency, and be involved in school-wide air quality awareness activities.
• Educate parents of students with asthma to better support the disease management of their child.
• Work on forging partnership between the school and parents to ensure a child with asthma's academic success and overall well-being.
• Each of the schools will employ a school nurse responsible for helping students manage as asthma. The nurse assists students requiring the administration of medicine during the day and also often works with students to allow them to participate in all the activities that peers do, such as recess, physical education, and field trips. The nurse also works with teachers to help manage students’ illness and can be a great resource for teachers needing more education about a particular condition a student
• AAFWA will also develop several tools to help educational institutions in the aforementioned countries become more asthma-friendly.
Adapted from the American Lung Association of Connecticut
(1) Let the child care provider know that your
child has asthma.
(2) Let the child care provider know:
• What triggers your child’s asthma
• If your child is taking any
medications
• The symptoms your child usually
exhibits before an attack
(3) Provide a copy of your child’s Child
Asthma Plan to the provider. If your child
does not have a Child Asthma Plan, talk to
your health care provider about getting one. The plan describes steps to take if a child with asthma
is experiencing any asthma symptoms.
(4) Make sure both you and the child care provider understand the Child Asthma Plan and agree on the steps to follow. If your child does not yet have a plan, be sure to discuss steps to take in the event of an asthma attack.
(5) If your child requires asthma medications, be sure to give the child care provider an adequate supply of medications in original containers with pharmacy labels clearly stating the name of the child, name of the health care provider, name of the medication, dosage, instructions, and expiration date. The medication must always be accompanied by a Medication Authorization Form completed by the child’s parent.
(6) Show the child care provider how to use asthma medicines and devices.
(7) Talk to the child care provider regularly about your child’s asthma. It is a good idea for parents and providers to communicate about the child’s asthma signs or symptoms every day (see the Child Asthma Plan).
(8) Make sure the contact information you give the child care provider is current and up-to-date so that you can be reached in case of an emergency.