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Resource Kit Seeks to Reduce Incidence of SIDS in African American
Communities

HHS News
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
October 12, 2000
Campaign's Resource Kit Seeks to Reduce Incidence of SIDS in African
American Communities
Commemorating SIDS Awareness Month, HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala and U.S.
Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher today unveiled a resource kit for reducing
the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in African American
communities. Dr. Satcher challenged leaders of African American
organizations to join a national campaign to reduce SIDS and infant
mortality in African American communities where infants are twice as likely
to die from SIDS as are white infants.
"New partnerships are the tools we need to continue the dramatic success we
have witnessed with the national Back to Sleep campaign since 1994,"
Secretary Shalala said. "New materials will help us carry this effective
campaign to even more individuals caring for infants."
"We have the know-how, we have the will, we have the ability to reduce
SIDS," Dr. Satcher told the annual meeting of the National Black Child
Development Institute this afternoon. "We now need other organizations to
make the type of commitment that the National Black Child Development
Institute has made to eliminate the racial disparity in SIDS deaths."
The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) has joined with the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and several other organizations
in a campaign to reduce SIDS among African American babies by urging parents
and care givers to place infants on their backs to sleep. The American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends back-sleeping as the safest sleep
position for infants under one year of age to reduce the incidence of SIDS.
To help organizations initiate SIDS risk reduction programs, NICHD, HRSA,
NBCDI and other partner organizations developed a Resource Kit for Reducing
the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in African American
Communities. The kit contains culturally appropriate materials such as fact
sheets, brochures, magnets and a leader's guide to encourage people to lead
discussion groups in various community settings on ways to reduce the risk
of SIDS.
The NBCDI will play a major role in promoting SIDS risk reduction activities
throughout the United States. This unique non-profit organization is devoted
to improving the well-being of children. Over the past 30 years, NBCDI has
developed outstanding relationships with community organizations and has an
extensive regional affiliate structure that involves thousands of
community-based leaders. Dr. Yvonne Maddox, Acting Deputy Director of the
National Institutes of Health, forged the partnership with NBCDI that
resulted in the resource kit. "We have been very successful in reducing SIDS
in the total population," Dr. Maddox said. "We now need to work with
community-based organizations to reduce SIDS among African American infants
and eliminate this disturbing disparity."
Since the back-sleeping recommendation was made, the rate of SIDS has
dropped dramatically, from more than 5,000 to under 3,000 infant deaths per
year. Despite the overall success of the campaign, the SIDS rate in African
American infants is still two times higher than in white infants. Several
studies have shown that African American infants are placed on their
stomachs to sleep more often than other infants. Stomach sleeping is a major
risk factor for SIDS.
The national Back to Sleep public education campaign was launched in 1994 to
promote placing babies on their backs to sleep. It is led by the NICHD in
collaboration with the campaign co-sponsors: the AAP, HRSA's Maternal and
Child Heath Bureau (MCHB), the SIDS Alliance and the Association of SIDS and
Infant Mortality Programs.
"The campaign to reduce SIDS deaths is a success because of the many
partnerships involved in getting the simple message out that babies should
sleep on their backs," said HRSA Administrator Dr. Claude Earl Fox. "But we
must do more to reach African American parents and caregivers to reduce the
rate of SIDS among African American infants who are twice as likely to die
from SIDS as white infants."
NICHD, MCHB and the SIDS Alliance are also working with the Alpha Kappa
Alpha Sorority, the Women in the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women to bring SIDS
reduction and education programs to African American communities nationwide.

Several organizations are already working to reduce SIDS in their
communities. For October, National SIDS Awareness Month, the D.C. Department
of Health, in conjunction with NICHD, NBCDI, MCHB and the SIDS Alliance have
placed a public service display ad on Washington D.C. Metrobuses with the
SIDS risk reduction message: Babies Sleep Safest on Their Backs.
To receive the new Resource Kit for Reducing the Risk of Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS) in African American Communities and help the partner
organizations reduce the risk of SIDS, please call the Back to Sleep
toll-free number at 1-800-505-CRIB. The kits will be available by the end of
October. Also, the Resource Kit will soon be available on the NICHD Web
site: http://www.nichd.nih.gov .