The Georgia Department of Public Health’s (DPH) Safe to Sleep Program coordinates statewide public health interventions intended to protect infants from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of death.
With the support of its partners, the program provides data, health education and other resources to promote evidence-based safe sleep practices and raise awareness about environmental factors that increase the risks for sleep-related infant deaths.
Through these wide-reaching efforts, DPH works to ensure that every baby born in Georgia can grow up healthy and enjoy safe sleep for every sleep.
Vision: A Georgia where preventable sleep-related infant deaths do not occur.
Mission: To ensure every family in Georgia will be given the tools and information needed to make consciously informed decisions regarding safe sleep positions and environments for their infants.
Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign
Each year in the U.S., more than 4,000 infants, without a prior known illness or injury, die suddenly and unexpectedly. As of 2014, Georgia averaged three infant deaths per week due to sleep-related causes, which are contributing factors to the state’s current infant mortality rate.
Public health, health care and community leaders have come together to introduce the Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign. This initiative is led by government entities and associations partnering to champion infant safety and health:
- Georgia Children’s Cabinet
- Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
- Georgia Bureau of Investigation
- Georgia Department of Public Health
- Georgia Hospital Association
- Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society
The Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign is designed to achieve four primary objectives:
- Prevent sleep-related infant deaths in Georgia
- Educate parents about creating a safe sleep environment for their babies and see proper sleeping practices modeled in hospitals or other health care settings
- Disseminate accurate and consistent messages that encourage families to make informed decisions about infant sleep
- Increase access to resources that support behaviors that protect infants from sleep-related deaths
Through partnership and collaboration, this campaign will target diverse groups in Georgia that contribute to an infant’s safety, health and well-being including: parents, hospitals and health providers, statewide public health and safety organizations, families, caregivers, child care professionals and many others.
Resources
Safe to Sleep Campaign Materials
Contact:
Terri Miller, MPH, CHES
Safe to Sleep Campaign Coordinator
Terri.Miller@dph.ga.gov
(404) 657-2904
The Georgia Safe to Sleep effort is adapted from the national Safe to Sleep® campaign, led by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Page last updated 02/21/2018