News & Updates

The well-being of America's children has improved in many respects, with infant and childhood death rates continuing to drop, fewer adolescents smoking, fewer children exposed to secondhand smoke, fewer adolescent girls giving birth, and more adolescents taking honors courses.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) will sponsor a regional summit meeting May 30-31 in Detroit as part of a national campaign to reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in African American communities.

A team of researchers reports that infants who are placed to sleep on their backs are not at increased risk for health problems, and they are less likely to develop fevers, get stuffy noses, or develop otitis media (ear infection).

Infants who share a bed with other children are at a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than are other infants, according to the most recent analysis of a study of predominantly African American SIDS deaths in Chicago.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) will conduct a large study to determine whether a new surgery to correct spina bifida in the womb is safer and more effective than the traditional surgery to correct the disorder, which takes place a few days after birth.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has selected the first eight research units for the Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research, an international research network to improve the health of women and children throughout the world.

The Women in the NAACP (WIN) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development have joined forces with two national African American women's organizations to reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the African American community.

Infants accustomed to sleeping on their backs who are then placed to sleep on their stomachs or sides are at an increased risk for SIDS-greater than the increased SIDS risk of infants always placed on their stomachs or sides.

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has joined forces with three national African American Women's organizations in a year-long program to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) among African American infants.

Bed sharing-the practice of letting babies sleep in an adult bed with a parent or caregiver-is increasing in the United States, according to a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

A study of Northern Plains Indians found that infants were less likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) if their mothers received visits from public health nurses before and after giving birth.

Researchers have conducted the most definitive study of its kind to show that sleeping on the stomach increases the risk of U.S. infants for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Two experimental compounds prevent one of the cellular events that is a likely contributor to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

In contrast to the pattern seen with singleton births, twins born to older mothers do not appear to have a greater risk of birth complications than do twins born to younger mothers, according to a recent study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the University of Kansas.

During the 1990's, the pattern of early infections among very low birth weight (VLBW) infants changed significantly, according to a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)- funded study that appears in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Children in America are less likely to die during infancy than they were in previous years, less likely to smoke in 8th or 10th grade, and less likely to give birth during adolescence, according to the 6th annual report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2002.

Full-term infants who are born small score an average of 11 points higher on IQ tests if they are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life compared to those who are given formula or solids early on, according to findings published in the March Acta Paediatrica.

Portable monitors that detect contractions of the uterus do not appear to be useful for identifying women likely to have a preterm delivery, according to a study by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

By the time they reached adulthood, very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants born in the late 1970s lagged behind their normal birth weight counterparts in I.Q. scores and educational achievement, according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Contrary to current assumptions, being born just two to four weeks premature can put a child at risk for minor delays in development, according to a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Health Resources and Services Administration.