Guidelines to protect the 64 million children affected by air quality in EU schools developed

A new set of guidelines on indoor air quality in EU schools has been developed to help protect the health of children and teachers.

Over 64 million children and 4.5 million teachers in the EU are affected by the quality of air inside schools.

Exposure to poor indoor air quality and pollutants can cause issues for people with lung conditions, such as asthma flare-ups. There are a number of causes of indoor air pollution in schools, including issues related to the design of buildings, ventilation and the use of certain paints and glues in buildings.

The guidelines, which are aimed at policymakers and local governments, have been developed by SINPHONIE (Schools Indoor Pollution and Health – Observatory Network in Europe), an EU-funded research project. As part of the project, air quality and its effects on students were monitored in 114 primary schools in 23 European countries.

Based on the research findings, the guidelines recommend that attention is paid to the ways in which school buildings are designed, cleaned, ventilated and heated in order to improve air quality.

Read the original news story.

Read more about the SINPHONIE project. 

Find out more about the Healthy Lungs for Life campaign, which is raising awareness of the importance of clean air.