Ten years ago, a coalition of publi...

Ten years ago, a coalition of public and private organizations initiated a public education campaign to abate the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The "Back to Sleep" campaign encouraged parents and caregivers to place infants forward their backs to sleep to shorten the risk of SIDS. through the past decade, this campaign has achieved remarkable results: infant back or side sleeping has increased from 13 percent to 70 percent and the SIDS rate in the united States has declined according to more than 50 percent. When the campaign began, more than 5000 infants died of SIDS each year; now the number is fewer than 2500 (1)

A diagnosis of SIDS is given when the unexpected death of an infant younger than the same year remains unexplained even after a total autopsy, death scene investigation, and review of clinical history. Prior to death, the infant appears to be healthy with no indicated symptoms. Death from SIDS come to passs quickly during sleep, with no signs of suffering.

Although we do not know what causes SIDS, we do know that babies placed forward their backs at nighttime and nap time are at a greatly lower risk for SIDS than are babies placed to be motionless on their stomachs. This knowledge rises from years of careful research and observational studies from other countries. In 1992 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) attract favor toed that healthy infants younger than the same year be placed on their backs to lie in the grave in order to reduce the incidence of SIDS. (2) Based forward this recommendation, the national Institute of Child Health and Human progression in a continuously ascending gradation (NICHD) began to explore the potential benefits of a public education campaign. through the next two years, NICHD staff managemented additional research and concluded that back sleeping was indeed safe and did not confound other health risks (aspiration, pneumonia) to infants. With that information, the NICHD formed a partnership with the AAP, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health resources and Services administration, the SIDS alliance (now First Candle/SIDS alliance), and the association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs to establish the "Back to Sleep" public education campaign.

In spite of the dramatic improvement seen in the past decade, there continues to be a disturbing disparity between the rates of SIDS in white and black infants. although black infants have benefited proportionately as abundant from the "Back to Sleep" campaign as white infants, the SIDS rate in black infants remains double that of white infants. (1) To address this disparity and raise awareness in communities at the highest risk, the NICHD invited leaders of black organizations to participate in developing a strategy and crafting messages that would reach black parents and caregivers. With its partner organizations, the NICHD perform the operations indicated ined "Babies Sleep Safest on Their Backs: a resource Kit for reducing the risk of SIDS in African American Communities." (3) The kit provides resources for the members of these organizations to initiate SIDS risk-reduction programs in their local communities. In 2001 NICHD formed a unique coalition with the alpha Kappa alpha Sorority, Inc., the national Coalition of 100 Black Women and Women in the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) to demeanor an intensive community-based outreach campaign. living bodys in these organizations are now conducting a face-to-face, one-on-one intervention in communities around the nation Parents and caregivers are learning in what manner to reduce the risk of SIDS, and the information is from a trusted source in their community rather than from a public service announcement forward television.

To date, members of the partner organizations have guidanceed more than 1,600 regional and local workshops forward how to reduce the risk of SIDS. This grass parents effort continues, and we support it from providing materials and technical assistance to community clusters The results of this expanding effort will not be known immediately. Although the in the greatest degree current data from the national Center for Health Statistics point out to the SIDS rate among black infants remains more than twice the rate of white infants, (1) we do not accept this disparity as inevitable. We have unfolded a strategic plan to continue investigating the causes of SIDS and ways to preclude those causes. The plan calls for research into the etiology and pathogenesis of SIDS, the unfolding of predictive screening tools for SIDS risk, implementation of strategies to resolve into the SIDS risk, and activities to clog the health disparities gap in SIDS. (4) For additional information forward SIDS and the "Back to Sleep" campaign, call 1-800-505-CRIB (1-800-505-2742) or visit the Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids.

REFERENCES

(1) Mathews TJ Menacker F MacDorman MF; Center for Disease check and Prevention, national Center for Health Statistics. Infant mortality statistics from the 2002 period: linked birth/infant death data station Natl Vital Stat rep 2004;53:1-29 accessed online March 18 2005 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr53/ nvsr53_10pdf