Food allergies on the rise, schools on the front line: +120% in children under 4

Marano di Napoli, May 23, 2025 – The dramatic increase in food allergies among children is no longer just a clinical fact, but an educational and health emergency. The alarm was raised during the event “Food Allergy at School”, which took place at the Socrate Auditorium of the Municipality of Marano, promoted by the Italian Association of Allergic Children (AIBA) and the Pediatric Allergology Center of the Federico II University of Naples, with the support of the School of Medicine and Surgery of Federico II and the collaboration of the Orders of Physicians and Pharmacists of the province of Naples and the Campania Region.

The meeting focused on the management of allergic children in the school environment, underlining how crucial teacher training is and the adoption of shared protocols between school, family and healthcare workers. Professor Roberto Berni Canani, director of the Federico II Pediatric Allergology Center, accurately photographed the emergency: “In Campania alone, in ten years, food allergies in children under four have increased by 120%, while in other age groups the growth has been 34%. At a national level, over 92.000 children today live with a food allergy”.

Making a change of pace even more urgent are the data from the Ministry of Health: in recent years, hospital admissions for food anaphylaxis in children have increased by 400%. Up to 18% of reactions occur at school, often due to accidental exposure and, what is even more serious, in 25% of cases the child had not received a preventive diagnosis.

Hence the proposal of a concrete and operational model: specific training for school staff, life-saving lockers in every school with medicines and instructions for use provided by the Order of Pharmacists, and constant contact between teachers, families and professionals of Federico II. The objective is clear: to make the school a prevention centre, not a place of risk.

The one in Marano was only the first stage of a regional path that, in the intentions of AIBA and the team led by Berni Canani, will have to become a national model. “We want to bring this approach to all schools in Campania and, soon, throughout Italy – declared the professor – to guarantee safety, dignity and full right to education for allergic children”.

AIBA and the Pediatric Allergology Center of the Frederick II thanked the institutions that made the initiative possible, from the President of the School of Medicine Giovanni Esposito to the mayor of Marano Matteo Morra, to the Councilor for Public Education Carmela Bocchetti and the regional councilor Pasquale Di Fenza. A team effort to respond to an emergency that can no longer wait.