Johnson & Johnson - Index

Johnson & Johnson - report - Index

Every day in the emergency
room, I see the victims of accidents that
I think are preventable,” says Stefanie
Märzheuser, M.D., senior physician at
Charite Hospital in Berlin. She regularly
treats children who have fallen from a
window, been scalded by boiling water or
hit by a car. “I see the suffering child and
the crying mom, and every single one of
these injuries inspires me to go on with
my work,” she says.
In 1997, Dr. Märzheuser co-founded Safe Kids Germany,
which works to keep children out of emergency rooms.
The group is part of the U.S.-based Safe Kids Worldwide ®
network, the first and only nonprofit organization dedicated
solely to the prevention of unintentional child injuries
worldwide. More than 700,000 children under age 15 die from
injuries around the world each year.
Johnson & Johnson is founding sponsor of Safe Kids ®
and has supported the organization for 20 years. “Safe Kids
Worldwide ® is one of our Company’s largest prevention and
education programs based on Our Credo, and it directly
touches millions of families around the world each year,” says
David Swearingen, Vice President, Corporate Communications.
In addition to financial support from Johnson & Johnson,
employees and retired employees volunteer at Safe Kids ® events.
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O U R C A R I N G T R A N S F O R M S :
The Safety of Childhood
G L O B A L , B U T L O C A L Today, Safe Kids Worldwide ® addresses
child safety in 17 countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada,
China, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the
Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Uganda, United
Arab Emirates, Vietnam and the United States. Programs
vary according to the priorities of each country. For example,
the Vietnam program provides free helmets to children,
since 90 percent of road travel occurs on motorcycles;
South Africa conducts a buckle-up campaign, as the vast
majority of children don’t wear seatbelts.
In the U.S., accidental injuries are the leading cause of
death for children 14 and under, claiming more than 5,300 lives
each year. The top causes of death are traffic-related (including
bike and pedestrian accidents), along with drownings, burns
and suffocation. Since Safe Kids Worldwide ® was founded,
childhood deaths from accidental injuries in the U.S. have
declined by nearly 45 percent.
Safe Kids ® is a grassroots network with more than 600
coalitions and chapters across the United States. Thousands
of professionals and volunteers are involved in its activities,
among them inspecting car seats to make sure they’re properly
installed, walking children to school to teach pedestrian safety
and giving kids helmets and bike safety tips. Safe Kids ® also
spearheads public policy and legislation efforts, including
J O H N S O N & J O H N S O N 2 0 0 7 A N N U A L R E P O R T