Spotlight on Safe Kids Austria/Grosse Schützen Kleine

Safe Kids Austria/Grosse Schützen Kleine is a nonprofit child safety organization with offices in seven Austrian provinces. In 2001, Grosse Schützen Kleine became a member of Safe Kids Worldwide.

Established in 1983, Grosse Schützen Kleine often works with midwives, doctors and children's nurses, parents, childcare workers and teachers to implement safety programs. Local network offices collaborate with the Red Cross, police departments, fire departments, local governments and other like-minded organizations to reach parents and caregivers with vital injury prevention information.

Approximately 1.3 million children in Austria have been involved with Grosse Schützen Kleine programs. Programs cover risk areas such as home safety and road traffic safety.

Programs of Safe Kids Austria/Grosse Schützen Kleine include:

• National program on prevention counseling by pediatricians
• Coordination of the National Child Safety Action Plan
• Training Course for Assistants in Private Pediatric Practice
• First Ride – Safe Ride
• Austrian Child Safety House
• Child Safety Information Program for Newborn Children
• Bedside Counseling
• Pediatric Injury Surveillance and Rersearch
• Safe Children Community Program
• Styrian Certificate on Safe Skiing Slopes
• Child safety trainings for medical, social and pedagogical professionals

Highlight: World Health Day 2010 – Safe Children Community Deutschlandsberg

World Health Day, an initiative hosted by the World Health Organization to promote urban health was held on April 7, 2010.  Safe Kids Austria /Grosse schützen Kleine celebrated this global event by hosting a Child Safety Day in the city of Deutschlandsberg, during which more than 300 children raised their voices for healthy and safe cities.

Deutschlandsberg, the capital city of the Safe Children Community region, has been working since 2007 to become the first designated Safe Children Community in the WHO network of Safe Communities.  During World Health Day, the regional child safety steering committee held its constitutional meeting to start the designation process to become a safe children community and adopted its application to be designated as the first Safe Children Community by the WHO Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion. These actions were important steps toward establishing a sustainable infrastructure for child safety in the district.

Participants in the event included the governor of the district, mayors of communities, directors of the civil protection agency and the Red Cross, representatives from the police, fire brigade, school headmasters, and social institutions who will work together as a steering committee with the goal of making Deutschlandsberg the safest region for children in the province of Styria.

Photos from the Event