New Zealand

Safe Kids New Zealand/Safe Kids New Zealand is the national child injury prevention service, established in the early 1990s by Starship Children’s Health Trauma Service. In 2001, Safe Kids New Zealand became a member of Safe Kids Worldwide.

Coalitions are the cornerstone of Safe Kids New Zealand's injury prevention campaigns. There are more than 60 Safe Kids coalitions across New Zealand that are active in child injury prevention initiatives covering risk areas including road safety, drowning and burn prevention.

Programs of Safekids New Zealand include:

• Safe Kids Campaign

• Safe Kids NZ Information and Resource Centre

• Child Booster Seats

• Advocacy Program

Highlights

Empowering Communities: Safe Kids New Zealand Information & Planning Day Workshops 2009

Safe Kids New Zealand held Information & Planning Day workshops May and June 2009, attracting over 400 participants in 23 locations across the country. The workshops focused on child car passenger safety and the prevention of unintentional cutting and piercing injuries. Community leaders, decision makers, injury prevention and health workers, doctors, Well Child providers, local councils, Road Safety Coordinators and educators attended the workshops.

Safe Kids New Zealand Coalition Events on Child Passenger Safety Across the Country

Following the Information & Planning Day Workshops, Safe Kids coalitions across New Zealand organized community events that promoted the current Safe Kids Campaign initiatives. Major events were scheduled at Maori history-rich Northland, scenic Taupo in the North Island, and garden city Christchurch in the South Island, with smaller community events being organized throughout the country.

Safe Kids New Zealand Strategic 5-Year Plan Meeting

The next Safe Kids Strategic 5-Year Planning meeting (for 2011-2015) is scheduled for January 2010.

Safe Kids regularly meets with national organizations with the goal of translating injury prevention research that will help them create interventions that directly impact the number of child injuries in New Zealand.