DR. SHAVON ARTIS: When the campaign first started, it was very much
focused on placing the infant on his or her back to sleep.
Henceforth, the campaign name: Back to Sleep.
Over the years, we really found it important to not only focus on
placing the infant on his or her back to sleep, but also where the
baby was being placed. And we really wanted to focus on a safe sleep
environment for the infant.
And so we included our messages talking about placing the baby in a
crib, bassinet, or play yard with nothing around the baby--no loose
bedding, which includes blankets or pillows, soft toys, any objects
that could become a hazard to the infant if it covers the infant's
head or mouth while sleeping.
And we really wanted to focus on making sure that the sleep environment
is smoke-free, as well as making sure that the surface is a firm
surface, and also having the baby in a separate sleep area.
And those are the key messages that we really are trying to make sure
that everyone hears as we talk about, "What is safe infant sleep?"
Over the past 20 years, we have seen a decline in the number of SIDS deaths.
Since the start of the campaign, SIDS has been reduced by over 50%
across all racial and ethnic groups.
We, unfortunately, have seen these deaths over the years--and we've
seen this decline across all groups--but yet [there] still remains a
higher death rate among American Indian/Alaska Native babies, almost
three times higher than compared to white infants, and for African
American infants, two times compared to white infants.
And so because of these unfortunate rates in these communities, it's
very important for us to make sure that we have our materials and our
health education messages reaching these communities, so that they
can be made aware of the things that they can do to keep their babies
safe during sleep time.
Our campaign has utilized this concept of "Each One, Teach One."
And so we go out to the community, providing safe infant sleep training
to individuals, encouraging them to go out and then share those
messages with those in their communities and within their networks.
And so we actually have done a lot of this throughout the country,
particularly in rural areas, where we really utilize these
community-based trainings to get safe infant sleep messages out.
The role that Champions have played has been a unique one.
This is something new to the campaign.
A year ago, we actually recruited Champions from all around the
country, representatives of all of the states, as well as two U.S.
state territories, who are trained on safe infant sleep messaging.
And we encouraged them to go out and utilize their local media, as
well as their community networks, to actually conduct community-based trainings.
And they were able to utilize the key messages that we trained them
on to go out and disseminate it to those who they were engaging with.
This really utilized local leveraging for us, where they were
actually being able to be a spokesperson for the campaign in a way that we
would not be able to reach these communities.
And so we're very proud of our Champions.
We would like to continue this effort, and we're hoping that these
messages will continue to get out to communities through our Champions.
And they've really been the voice of the campaign for us.
They've utilized print as well as radio and TV ads to really share
safe infant sleep messages and, again, as I mentioned before,
conducting trainings very much like what we said we were doing, where
this Each One, Teach One model really has worked.
And also, hearing the messages from people that they trust.
That's really important in communities, so it's not just the federal
government giving out these messages; it's actually people in the
community giving these messages as well.
Faith institutions are a very strong piece of the community.
And we really want to make sure that they are encouraging and promoting
safe infant sleep, because they oftentimes have child care centers in
their institutions, so it's really important that we involve
faith-based leaders.
We've also done something called SIDS Sunday, where we actually
provide messages on safe infant sleep to the pastors, as well as
inserts to go in the bulletins that they can distribute to their congregations.
We've also tried to work with different groups and tribes as we've
engaged in our Healthy Native Babies project, which is a tailored
outreach project for our American Indian/Alaska Native communities.
So, in addition to our tailored outreach for specific communities, we've
also tried to reach different segments of these communities.
For example, recently the campaign has taken a great interest in
making sure that we reach out to fathers and men just in general,
because we know that men play a significant role in taking care of babies.
And so we've really tried to engage men in our trainings that we are
conducting around the country.
We've particularly been starting this outreach to fathers and men in
general in the community in the state of Tennessee.
For the future of the campaign, we really want to make sure that we
engage grandparents more.
We often know that grandparents are taking care of infants, either as
a primary caregiver themselves or as a babysitter, and we know that
grandparents love to spend time with their grandbabies.
And we want to make sure they have the messaging about safe infant
sleep, because it's important that they know how to place a baby to sleep.
Teens are often taking care of younger brothers and sisters.
And we want to make sure that they are aware of how to take care of an infant.
Many may be babysitters themselves--or parents--and so we think it's
important to make sure that our safe infant sleep messages are
reaching that population as well.
Something that's unique about this campaign is that it never gets old.
Babies are being born every day.
And so it's really important to make sure that new parents are getting
the message and that those who are becoming new grandparents
are aware now:
What is the best way to place a baby to sleep for naps and at night?
And so it's our job to make sure that everyone who's coming in contact
with an infant has the safe infant sleep messages.
And we're able to do that through our campaign collaborators as well as
through our partners all around the country.
And we could not do this if we did not have those on the ground helping
us share these important safe infant sleep messages.