History

The Safe Kids movement started when two people raising awareness of trauma treatment at a children’s hospital learned there was no broad U.S. effort to address injuries, the number one killer of children. Wouldn’t it make sense, they reasoned, to try to prevent injuries before they happened?

In 1986 surgeon Martin R. Eichelberger, M.D., and Herta Feely, a public relations professional, started the National Children's Accident Prevention Campaign under Children’s National Medical Center.

The National SAFE KIDS Campaign

The new organization gained support from several U.S. congressmen, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and President Ronald Reagan. Partnerships quickly formed with other U.S. organizations, such as the National Head Injury Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Safety Council.

By September 1987, Eichelberger and Feely secured five years of funding from Johnson & Johnson, which remains the organization's founding sponsor.

The National SAFE KIDS Campaign was officially launched in 1988 as the only U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing accidental childhood injuries.

Worldwide Expansion

The success of grassroots Safe Kids efforts to prevent unintentional childhood injury drew attention from around the world. Representatives from 14 member countries joined in the formal launch of Safe Kids Worldwide on October 14, 2002, in Washington, D.C.

In 2004, following the development of a new strategic plan, the mission and goals of the National SAFE KIDS Campaign and its more than 600 coalitions and chapters were merged with those of Safe Kids Worldwide and its 16 member countries. The most visible aspect of the unification was a new common name and brand. In 2005, following board approval, the National SAFE KIDS Campaign officially became Safe Kids Worldwide.

Currently, the Safe Kids Worldwide network consists of 23 affiliates, including longstanding non-governmental organizations, such as Kidsafe in Australia and Grosse Schützen Kleine in Austria, as well as new Safe Kids entities created by concerned stakeholders to address the growing unintentional injury risks to children.