The Anaphylaxis Campaign

Key Facts

Location

All areas

Project Criteria

Health/Mental health

Project funding

£23,678

Funding round

Round 1

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The Anaphylaxis Campaign provides information and support to anyone affected by life threatening allergies (Anaphylaxis). These are severe allergic reactions at the extreme end of the allergic spectrum. The whole body is affected, often within minutes of exposure to the allergen. Symptoms include swelling of the throat and mouth, difficulty in breathing, severe asthma, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, sudden feeling of weakness and collapse and unconsciousness.

Many parents feel unable to cope with their child's allergy, especially when first diagnosed and they turn to the Anaphylaxis Campaign for support. We are a charity set up in 1994.

We will use the Parenting Fund grants to run an England wide programme of educational workshops for parents of children with life-threatening allergies. Our workshops are one of the key services we provide to give parents confidence in managing the risks associated with their allergic child's condition.

• The aims of each workshop are:
• To enable parents to become more confident in assessing the risks associated with severe allergy and in ensuring that their child's other carers, e.g. teachers, childminders, grandparents know how to support them in the event of a life-threatening reaction.
• To help parents to get allergy risks in perspective with the risks encountered in every day life.
• To provide an opportunity to meet with other parents of children with severe allergies, often for the first time, which alleviates the feelings of isolation and anxiety experienced by many carers of severely allergic children.

The topics covered include:

• assessing the risks with having a life-threatening allergy
• 'letting go' (helping children to grow in to confident, independent adults)
• educating teachers, staff and caterers
• medical kit - whose responsibility? (NB: all those at risk of life-threatening allergic reactions must carry an emergency medical kit at ALL times)
• school scenarios
• eating out at restaurants, friends' houses, parties
• travelling abroad
• food labelling.
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