FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: June 11 , 2007
Contact:
Vivian Muzyk
(919) 828-1819
N.C. Back to Sleep Campaign
Nationally Recognized for SIDS Education in African
American Community
(Raleigh, NC) The National
Center for Cultural Competence named the N.C. Back
to Sleep campaign a Promising Practice for
using culturally appropriate strategies to reduce sudden
infant death among African Americans. North Carolina
has one of the highest infant death rates in the country
with African American babies dying from Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS) at more than twice the rate of
white babies. Georgetown University's National Center
for Cultural Competence, a leader in cultural competency
in health care education, commends the campaign's strategies
in a report titled "Dialogue Creates Effective Risk
Reduction Training," featured on the Center's
web site.
The N.C. Back to Sleep Campaign, established in 1994,
is a public/private partnership between the N.C. Division
of Public Health's Women's Health Branch and the North
Carolina Healthy Start Foundation. The campaign has
been instrumental in reducing the state's SIDS rate
by 38% in the last 13 years. In recent years, the campaign
has made efforts to address the health disparity in
the state by creating programs and materials for the
African American and Latino communities.
The National Center for Cultural Competence commended
the N.C. Back to Sleep Campaign for conducting focus
groups and interviews in African American communities
to learn the best way to promote baby's safe sleep
- practices that reduce the risks of SIDS and accidental
suffocation and strangulation - to this audience. Being
receptive to community input led to the creation of
the Baby's Easy Safe Sleep Training (BESST), a two-hour
workshop to train health and human services professionals
how to promote infant safe sleep to families and caregivers.
The training features a portable flipchart for conducting
community education presentations across the state,
especially in rural settings. BESST promotes safe sleep
strategies such as not swaddling a baby to prevent
overheating, creating a smoke-free environment and
keeping a crib free of clutter. The BESST flipchart,
which is also available in Spanish, can be purchased
on the Foundation's web site at www.NCHealthyStart.org.
The N.C. Back to Sleep Campaign was also touted for
addressing cultural practices. Research shows that
African American grandmothers greatly influence child-rearing
practices. As a result, the campaign created a photo
novella (picture story) that depicts a grandmother
learing about the recommended back to sleep position
to reduce the risks of SIDS.
"The N.C. Healthy Start Foundation is committed to
reducing this unacceptable disparity in ways that are
relevant to and engage African American families in
helping their infants sleep safely," says Christine
O'Meara, the N.C. Back to Sleep campaign coordinator.
"We are pleased that the National Center for Cultural
Competence recognizes North Carolina's leadership role
to combat the SIDS disparity experienced by the African
American community."
BESST was developed in 2005 with funding from Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.
To learn more about the N.C. Back to Sleep Campaign,
visit www.NCHealthStart.org/backtosleep/.
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The N.C. Healthy Start Foundation, a
nonprofit organization established in 1990, conducts
ongoing public education campaigns, advises state and
local policy makers, and provides technical assistance
and professional training focused on reducing infant
death and illness and improving the health of women
and young children in N.C.
