New Partnership Includes a Joint Research Study and Aims to Raise Awareness and Protect Families from a Leading Cause of Injury for Young Children

Safe Kids Worldwide and America’s Poison Centers® announced today an innovative three-year partnership dedicated to advancing efforts to protect kids from preventable poisonings. The collaboration will leverage data from America’s Poison Centers National Poison Data System® (NPDS) to conduct a joint research study and engage Safe Kids’ extensive partner network to raise awareness about poison prevention. Education and outreach efforts will amplify the latest in pediatric poisoning trends, maximize impact on poison safety topics, including safe storage, proper use of cleaning products, and medicine safety. U.S. Poison Centers respond to over 2 million poison exposure cases annually with over half of those exposure cases occurring in children and teenagers. In 2024, U.S. Poison Centers managed 815,865 exposure cases in children under 6 years old.  Most poisonings in children younger than 6 years old are unintentional and occur in the home. Make-up and personal care products, household cleaners, medicines, and plants are among the most common poisoning risks for young children. 

“Safe Kids has a long history of using data and research to ensure the scientific integrity of our childhood injury prevention efforts,” said Torine Creppy, president of Safe Kids Worldwide. “We’re excited to build on that tradition through a strategic partnership with America’s Poison Centers, a leading organization that so clearly shares our commitment to safety for all children.”

“Poison Centers across the country work 24/7/365 days a year to prevent poison-related health emergencies and provide near real-time poison data that is critical for public health surveillance and monitoring,” said Richard Fogelson, CEO of America’s Poison Centers. “We are proud to partner with Safe Kids Worldwide, whose expertise in childhood injury prevention and long history of impact have made a difference for countless families. Together, we can raise awareness and provide families with the tools they need to prevent poisonings and keep children safe at home and in their communities.”

Safe Kids and America’s Poison Centers will work together to advance research in childhood poisonings and educate families by:

• Conducting a joint pilot research study using data from NPDS to explore sociodemographic and geographic factors associated with increased risk of preventable poisoning among children under the age of six years.
• Conducting regular analysis of calls to Poison Centers impacting children under the age of six to identify emerging risks to children. In addition, America’s Poison Centers and Safe Kids will collaborate to make data more accessible to partners and families through an easy-to-use online interactive dashboard.
• Creating new data and research informed educational resources to support healthcare professionals, families, and caregivers in keeping children safe.
• Building stronger, community-level partnerships and prevention efforts by fostering collaboration between local Poison Control Centers and local Safe Kids coalitions.

About Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe Kids Worldwide is a nonprofit organization working to reduce unintentional injuries to children ages 0-19 and building sustainable systems that support injury prevention. Safe Kids works with strategic partners and an extensive network of more than 400 coalitions in the U.S. to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, sleep-related deaths, falls, burns, poisonings, and more. Learn more at safekids.org.

About America’s Poison Centers America’s Poison Centers represent more than 50 Poison Centers across the country. We are united in our cause to prevent poison-related health emergencies in America. Through our national Poison Help line (1-800-222-1222) and website, PoisonHelp.org, we provide all Americans expert advice from nationally accredited medical specialists about poison ingestions and exposures of all kinds, including from medications, insects or chemicals, 24/7/365, at no cost. We also maintain the National Poison Data System® (NPDS), our nation’s only near real-time poisoning data surveillance system, integrating the latest information from across Poison Centers. Together, America’s Poison Centers ensure a national quality standard for the detection, prevention, and treatment of poison-related health emergencies.