Safe infant sleep systems integration (SISSI) program - approximately 3,500 infants DIE annually in the united states (US) from sleep-related deaths, or sudden unexpected infant death (SUID)

In the first year of life, SUID is the third leading cause of death overall. Although SUID impacts all communities, sleep-related deaths have notable and persistent racial and ethnic disparities, with non-hispanic black and american indian/alaska native infants experiencing a rate twice that of non-hispanic white infants. There is an urgent need to address SUID and SUID-related health disparities to ensure the health and safety of all children and families. Because of their trusted relationships and frequent contact with families of infants, pediatric health care providers have a unique opportunity to mitigate SUID-related risk. The american academy of pediatrics (AAP) has been a trusted and valued leader in SUID prevention since the back to sleep campaign in the 1990S. The AAP task force on sudden infant death syndrome has published the leading recommendations around safe sleep for several decades, and the AAP directs numerous safe infant sleep, injury prevention, and fatality review initiatives aimed at equipping pediatric health providers with tools and resources to impact their practice and communities. This expertise places the AAP in a prime position to address SUID, particularly among populations that have historically been marginalized and excluded. The ultimate goal of the proposed project is to reduce overall rates of SUID and SUID-related racial and ethnic disparities. The proposed initiative will leverage the aaps vast infrastructure and networks to:1) identify and promote safe infant sleep state and community best practices through a diverse national coalition, 2) increase pediatric providers' awareness, understanding, and use of fatality review data, findings, and recommendations, and 3) engage pediatric providers in assisting caregivers/families to create safe sleep environments both through impro vements in direct patient care and participation on fatality review and community action teams (CATS) to address social system improvements and community-level policy opportunities. An initial activity will be to work with national coalition representatives to build strategies for effective and meaningful engagement. Activities across the 3-years will include creating a unified, cross-discipline national coalition; generating mechanisms to bridge pediatric providers with local fatality review teams; fostering multi-disciplinary training opportunities through grand round series and learning communities; and conducting a comprehensive and robust evaluation that contributes to both program improvement and improved outcomes. Reducing rates of SUID and SUID-related health disparities is a complex challenge, yet one that can be effectively met by the capacity and expertise of the AAP and its extraordinary partners, each of whom brings critical and unparalleled expertise in SUID prevention, fatality review, community implementation, and family representation. The AAP is honored to submit the current application, requesting $500,000 annually across the 3-year project period.