Govt SUDI programme too focused on bassinets - campaigner
A programme intended to reduce the leading cause of death in infants has not succeeded, and deaths have actually risen. The Ministry of Health launched a national programme to tackle Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy in 2017. In 2019, 52 babies died of SUDI, roughly a 25 percent rise on a typical year. Maori rates are now nearly 11 times higher than European and Asian rates. Long-time SUDI campaigner, and founder of the organisation Change for Our Children, Stephanie Cowan, ran the first government-funded national SUDI prevention program contract from 1992. She says the current Ministry of Health programme places too much focus on handing out safe sleep bassinets.