Israel

Safe Kids Israel/Beterem is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create a safe place for children in Israel. Professor Yehuda Danon, the founding Director of the Schneider Children’s Medical Center and former surgeon general, and Dr. Michal Hemo-Lotem, a pediatrician, founded Beterem in 1995 at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center. Beterem became a member of Safe Kids Worldwide in 2000.

Beterem is the only nationwide organization in Israel that deals exclusively in child safety. It works out of five hospitals throughout the country. Beterem aims to reduce injuries resulting from unintentional accidents in Israel by at least 30% over the next 10 years.

Highlights

'Child Injuries in Israel - 'Beterem' National Report 2010'

The National Report is the fourth published by Safe Kids Israel/Beterem, and a unique display of child injuries in Israel. The report is the result of systematic collection and analysis of data through many databases and aims to assist the work of professionals, policy makers, public health and education officials and decision makers in government and local authorities. The purpose of this report is to present a broad perspective of child injuries in Israel, with a focus on unintentional injury. It examines child injury in Israel in a broad context using comparisons to other countries, other age groups and overall morbidity data. The report can be found online.

The report was presented to the Children Rights Committee of the Knesset in the presence of MK Zevulun Orlev and launched under the presence of the Minister of Health at a press conference with the participation of the Director of the Ministry of Health, Chairman of the Home and Leisure Safety National Council.

Safe Kids Week

The annual Safe Kids Week is part of Safe Kids Israel’s ‘Beterem in the City’ program and held in 13 municipalities that participate in the program. The goal of the week is to raise the issue of child safety on the public agenda and media, raise public awareness of the organization’s activities and profile, and inspire action among professionals and organizations.

This year’s Safe Kids Week focused on safety in parks and playgrounds and targeted parents, grandparents, nannies, babysitters and siblings of children up to 8 years of age; the campaign theme was “Parents’ Responsibility.” With the 2011 campaign, approximately 500,000 people were exposed to the activities and messages from articles, broadcasts, press, the website, newsletter and billboards. 20,000 postcards and 2,000 bags were distributed and 50 articles published in the media.

Key activities included volunteers distributing pamphlets and bags at playgrounds and public spaces with the message, “Eyes Wide Open,” to remind the target population to keep their eyes on their children. There was participation from the business and marketing sectors as well as both Jewish and Arab communities.

Inter-ministerial Committee Report for Child Safety in Arab communities

The Inter-ministerial committee for children's safety in the Arab communities was established by request of the chairman of the Child Rights Committee of the Knesset, due to the high and severe injury data among this population. The role of the committee is to make recommendations to the government to reduce child injury in Arab communities, with reference to injury locations and a variety of proven prevention strategies, which should be integrated into the National Action Plan for Safety of children led by the Ministry of Health. The report was completed and presented to the Knesset at the end of July.