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Japan SIDS prevention campaign

Also: Back to Sleep campaign (Japan)

Campaign by SIDS family associations aimed at medical professionals in 1996 and mothers in 1997, backed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare from mid-1998, against prone sleeping, smoking and formula feeding. Japanese nurseries adopted routine sleep-position checks, turning toddlers supine every 5-10 minutes.

Years
1996–now
Country
Japan
Topic
Infant sleep
Asks people to
Substitute
Strategy
Simple instruction
Channel
Clinical settingPrint
Audience
Parents
Health professionals, mothers, nursery staff

Evidence

ObservationalPositive

Repeated ICCPS surveys (1996-97 and 1998-99) found less prone placement, smoking and formula feeding; SIDS in Japan/Kanagawa fell from 0.42 to 0.24 per 1000. Caveat: earlier SIDS rises in Japan and Hong Kong likely reflected diagnostic relabelling.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • SIDS Family Association of Japan NGO
  • Ministry of Health and Welfare (from 1998) Foreign government

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Sawaguchi T et al. Social responses to SIDS: evaluation of SIDS prevention campaigns. Forensic Sci Int 2002 evaluation · 2002 · DOI 10.1016/s0379-0738(02)00144-5 · PMID 12350306
  2. Ohta H et al. Postural change for supine position does not disturb toddlers' nap. Sci Rep 2020 evaluation · 2020 · DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-68832-3 · PMID 32686727
  3. Sawaguchi T et al. Is the incidence of SIDS increasing in Asia? Int J Legal Med 1998 evaluation · 1998 · DOI 10.1007/s004140050170 · PMID 9728759

Research notes

Created 2026-10-23 from the sleep campaign literature search (PubMed and web search; OpenAlex was unreachable), see docs/sleep-campaigns-literature.md. Findings are paraphrased from abstracts, not full texts; official URLs come from search results and were not opened. Evaluation is by campaign-linked researchers. Hong Kong: no named campaign found; only ICCPS survey data (PMID 11408104) and the Sawaguchi trend paper.

Record cases/jp-sids-prevention-campaign.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign