Child and Adolescent Health

The Children’s Safety Network

Injury as a Public Health Problem

Injury and violence are often referred to as a “neglected epidemic” within public health. As the leading cause of death and disability for persons age 1 to 44 in the U.S., the public health response to injury has been limited compared to the impact.Working with states and national organizations is essential as the field of injury science is developing and attracting increased attention from a wide range of disciplines. Important advances have been made in delivering emergency services, saving lives,reducing disability, and demonstrating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of preventive interventions to be implemented on a wide scale. Future advances depend on the continued development of the infrastructure through tested interventions, data gathering, and community ownership for this major child and adolescent public health problem.

A Leader in Child and Adolescent Injury and Violence Prevention

This year, MPHI was awarded a contract to provide technical assistance in children’s injury prevention to states through the Children’s Safety Network (CSN). The Children’s Safety Network was established in 1992 with funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration - Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CSN is a national resource center for state health and maternal and child health staff serving the injury and violence prevention needs of children and adolescents. CSN works collaboratively with all 50 state and territorial health departments and assorted national organizations to enhance the capacity of states to develop, implement, and evaluate injury and violence prevention activities. The “network” of sites include locations in Washington D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts, and most recently, MPHI in Okemos. The lead center is the Education Development Center (EDC), Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts. MPHI and others serve as subcontractors to EDC.

Reaching Out to State Maternal and Child Health

Christian Hanna, a national children’s rural injury expert, relocated from the CSN site at Marshfield, Wisconsin to MPHI. Mr. Hanna serves as an outreach specialist to states as well as a national injury prevention expert, with special expertise in teen driving, youth suicide, and rural injury prevention. Other CSN staff at sites throughout the U.S. are as diverse as they are talented. Staffing includes research scientists, economists, public health writers, librarians, statisticians, epidemiologists, and information technology specialists who work together on a wide array of subjects. CSN staff tackle both big and small technical assistance requests based on identified needs by each state health and MCH agencies. Examples of past assistance include: facilitating a state injury and violence prevention five-year strategic plan; providing an urgent request for data from a health department requesting consideration in suicide prevention legislation; providing programmatic assistance to child and adolescent health staff for identification of depression and suicidal ideation among pregnant adolescents; assisting maternal and child health staff to update a behavioral survey on product safety; developing a summary of knowledge on the scope of the problem, prevention strategies, and data regarding rural motor vehicle crashes among young drivers; estimating the number of emergency department visits resulting from self-inflicted injuries; and calculating the benefit-cost ratio on car seat distribution and car seat check points for policy development.

CSN at MPHI

The relocation of CSN to MPHI affords greater collaboration with the MPHI-based MCH National Child Death Review Resource Center (NCDRRC) and the increasing number of state health and maternal and child health departments with child death review teams. Specifically, proximity will enable CSN to provide technical support, training and guidance to state and local child death review teams to implement child and adolescent injury and violence prevention recommendations. CSN and NCDRRC not only share a common funding source, but also a zeal for protecting children and adolescents from injury and violence.

Learn More
For more information about the CSN, contact CSN at 2438 Woodlake Circle, Suite 240, Okemos, MI 48864, call 517-324-8344, or visit the Center’s Web site at www.childrenssafetynetwork.org.

Author
Chris Hanna, MPH, is a state outreach specialist with the Children’s Safety Network project in Child and Adolescent Health for MPHI and also assists with the Michigan Child Death Review Project.