Campaigns and Initiatives

The PROTECT Initiative is an innovative collaboration, led by CDC, that brings together public health agencies, private sector companies, professional organizations, consumer/patient advocates, and academic experts to keep children safe from unintentional medication overdoses. Medication overdoses can lead to harm, sometimes requiring emergency treatment or hospitalization and are a significant public health problem.

Up and Away and Out of Sight

is an educational program to remind parents and caregivers of young children about the importance of safe medication storage and what to do in case of an emergency. It is an initiative of PROTECT, in partnership with CDC, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association Educational Foundation, and a coalition of partners.

Protect the Ones You Love Child Injuries Are Preventable is a CDC initiative to raise parents' awareness about the leading causes of child injury in the United States and how they can be prevented. Working together, we can keep our children safe and help them live to their full potential.

Get Smart Know When Antibiotics Work is a CDC-led campaign that aims to reduce the rate of rise of antibiotic resistance by: promoting adherence to appropriate prescribing guidelines among providers, decreasing demand for antibiotics for viral upper respiratory infections among healthy adults and parents of young children, and increasing adherence to prescribed antibiotics for upper respiratory infections.

Get Smart for Healthcare is a CDC-led campaign that focuses on improving antimicrobial use (or antibiotic use) in in–patient healthcare settings such as acute–care facilities, and long–term care. The goals for Get Smart for Healthcare are to 1) improve patient safety through better treatment of infections, 2) reduce the emergence of anti–microbial resistant pathogens and C. difficile, 3) heighten awareness of the challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance in healthcare, and 4) encourage better use of antimicrobials as one solution.

The Safe Use Initiative

is an FDA–led collaboration to reduce preventable harm from medications. The goal of the Safe Use Initiative is to reduce preventable harm by identifying specific, preventable medication risks and developing, implementing and evaluating cross-sector interventions with partners who are committed to safe medication use.