School Is Back: Protecting Children’s Health During Nigeria’s Rainy Season

As children return to classrooms, the timing deserves some attention. Nigeria is still within the rainy season, with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) forecasting a normal to late cessation of rainfall in many parts of the country in 2026. Its seasonal prediction also projected normal to above-normal rainfall in several areas.

The return to school should not be viewed as a cause for alarm. It is, however, a useful opportunity to think about children's health and the environments in which they spend much of their day.

For Nigeria, this matters because the rainy season has been associated with seasonal patterns in some childhood illnesses. A prospective cohort study of 481 Nigerian children found that acute respiratory infections occurred throughout the year, with a peak corresponding to the rainy season between July and November. The study was conducted several decades ago, so its findings should not be interpreted as evidence of current national incidence, but they provide Nigerian evidence that seasonal variation in childhood respiratory illness has been observed.

Respiratory health deserves attention

Cough, cold and other respiratory symptoms are among the common health problems encountered during childhood. WHO notes that most respiratory infections in young children are upper respiratory infections, with many presenting as simple coughs or colds.

For parents, the important message is not to assume that every cough or fever requires the same treatment.

A child with a respiratory symptom may need nothing more than supportive care, while another child may require assessment for a more serious condition. WHO guidance on childhood respiratory illness emphasises recognising signs that require referral, including fast or difficult breathing.

This distinction is particularly important when medicines are involved.

A cough should not automatically lead to antibiotics

Antibiotics remain an important part of modern medicine, but they do not treat viral common colds. WHO's review of cough and cold treatment in young children states that antibiotics have no role in managing the common cold because they do not shorten the illness or prevent complications such as pneumonia.

This is an area where pharmacists can make an important contribution.

When a parent approaches a pharmacy for a child's cough, cold or fever, the interaction should involve more than simply selecting a product. Age, symptoms, duration of illness, existing conditions and medicines already being used can all be relevant to determining whether self-care is appropriate or whether referral is needed.

Children’s medicines require particular care

Medicine use in children also requires attention to age-appropriate formulations and dosing. WHO's Model List of Essential Medicines for Children specifically considers the age-appropriateness of medicine formulations, recognising that medicines for children cannot simply be treated as smaller versions of adult medicines.

Cough and cold medicines are one example.

WHO has highlighted limited evidence of benefit from drug therapy for viral common colds in young children, while some product information registered in Nigeria also contains specific age restrictions and warnings.

For parents, this reinforces a simple principle: a medicine being available without a prescription does not mean it is appropriate for every child.

Where there is uncertainty, a pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional can help determine whether a medicine is appropriate and whether the child should instead be referred for further assessment.

Rainfall can bring other health concerns

The health implications of the rainy season extend beyond respiratory symptoms.

Heavy rainfall can produce flooding, and flooding can contaminate drinking-water sources and create conditions that increase exposure to water- and vector-borne diseases. WHO identifies contaminated drinking water and standing water among important health risks associated with flooding.

This is not merely theoretical in Nigeria. WHO reported that heavy rainfall contributed to widespread flooding across multiple Nigerian states in 2024, affecting communities, healthcare facilities and access to essential services.

Rainfall can also create mosquito breeding sites. WHO has reported that malaria transmission in parts of Nigeria is linked in part to the rain cycle, with mosquito breeding sites developing during rainy periods.

These risks are not uniform across the country. Rainfall, flooding, sanitation conditions and disease transmission vary by location. That is why public-health messaging should focus on practical prevention rather than treating the rainy season as a single national health event.

Schools have a role to play

Protecting children's health cannot be left entirely to parents.

Schools are important settings for health promotion. UNICEF describes handwashing with soap and water as a simple measure that can help protect children against a range of diseases, while its work in Nigerian schools has highlighted the importance of handwashing facilities and hygiene education.

WHO guidance for educational settings has also identified hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, environmental cleaning, ventilation and appropriate procedures for people who develop symptoms as important components of infection-prevention measures in schools.

For schools, this means that basic infrastructure matters. Access to safe water, soap, functioning sanitation facilities and adequately ventilated classrooms is not simply a matter of comfort; these are components of a healthier learning environment.

Prevention should remain practical

For parents, the return to school is an opportunity to reinforce simple health practices rather than respond only when a child becomes ill.

Children should have access to safe drinking water and facilities for hand hygiene. Parents should also avoid unnecessary self-medication and seek professional assessment when symptoms are persistent, severe or associated with warning signs such as difficulty breathing.

Schools, meanwhile, can support health by maintaining hygiene facilities, encouraging appropriate hand and respiratory hygiene, ensuring adequate ventilation and having procedures for managing children who become unwell during the school day.

An opportunity for pharmacists

The school term also presents an opportunity to recognise the role pharmacists can play in community health.

For families managing common childhood symptoms, pharmacists can provide a point of contact for medicine-related questions, help identify inappropriate medicine use and recognise situations in which referral may be more appropriate than self-care.

That role is particularly important when the medicine being requested is intended for a child.

The objective should not be to encourage families to treat every childhood illness with a medicine. It should be the opposite: to support appropriate treatment when treatment is needed, avoid unnecessary medicines when they are not, and ensure children who require professional assessment receive it promptly.

The bigger picture

The return to school does not need to be accompanied by anxiety about the rainy season.

But it is a timely reminder that children's health is influenced by the environments in which they live, learn and interact. In Nigeria, where rainfall can coincide with seasonal patterns in respiratory illness and, in some settings, flooding and increased mosquito breeding, prevention deserves attention.

The most useful response is neither alarm nor unnecessary medication. It is preparedness: healthier school environments, good hygiene, responsible medicine use, attention to warning signs and timely access to appropriate healthcare.

As the school year gets underway, those simple measures may be among the most practical ways parents, schools and health professionals can work together to keep children healthy and ready to learn.

References

1. 1. Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet). 2026 Seasonal Climate Prediction. Abuja: NiMet; 2026.

2. 2. Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet). Seasonal Climate Prediction Update: August 2026, and August–September–October (ASO) 2026 Rainfall Forecast. Abuja: NiMet; 2026.

3. 3. Tomkins A, et al. Acute respiratory infections in Nigerian children: prospective cohort study of incidence and case management. PubMed.

4. 4. World Health Organization. Cough and cold remedies for the treatment of acute respiratory infections in young children. Geneva: WHO; 2001.

5. 5. World Health Organization. The selection and use of essential medicines (2023): WHO Expert Committee report. Geneva: WHO; 2024.

6. 6. World Health Organization. Floods: How to protect your health. Geneva: WHO.

7. World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. WHO Emergency Preparedness and Response Cluster – 1–30 September 2024: Nigeria. 2024.

8. 7. World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. Preventing malaria in pregnancy in remote African communities. 2019.

9. 8. UNICEF Nigeria. Student power: boys and girls promote handwashing in their school and community. 2020.

10. 9. World Health Organization. Checklist to support schools re-opening and preparation for COVID-19 resurgences or similar public health crises. Geneva: WHO; 2020.