Children's Health Outreach Toolkit
October is Children's Health Month!
Every October, Children’s Health Month spotlights the nation’s commitment to protecting children from environmental risks.
Use this toolkit as a starting point to tailor messages to share across their channels during October for Children’s Health Month, adapting content with local data, programming, languages, and branding.
These messages can be used in the creation of a variety of materials, including social media posts, website copy and blogs, newsletters and email campaigns, talking points and speeches, presentations, fact sheets, flyers and posters.
Audiences include:
- Parents and caregivers
- School districts and childcare or early learning providers
- Healthcare providers and public health professionals
- Community leaders
- State, territorial, Tribal, and local government agencies
Help spread the word about protecting children's environmental health!
Children's Health Publications
Browse EPA's published resources about children's environmental health on a range of topics, including children's health activities at EPA, information for schools and educators, healthy homes, and more.
Find Children's Health Publications
Graphics
Use this messaging to help spread information and resources about children's environmental health. Tag @EPA and incorporate hashtags when using social media to stay connected, including #ChildrensHealthMonth, #ChildHealth and #ProtectKidsHealth.
Learn more about America's Children and the Environment (ACE).
More EPA Multimedia Resources
- Asthma Awareness Month Social Media and Infographics
- Burn Wise Graphics, Photos and Logos
- Cool Your Community Social Media Toolkit
- Lead Poisoning Awareness Infographics
- Mold and Moisture Control Infographic
- Radon Social Media and Infographics
- Safer Choice Media Kit
Children's Health Messaging
Key Messages
Related Children's Health Campaigns
Participate in other children’s health campaigns! The following campaigns occur at the same time every year.
Children are often more vulnerable than adults to environmental hazards.
- Children eat more food, drink more water, and breathe more air in proportion to their body weight than adults, which can increase exposure to environmental pollutants.
- Because their organs, and systems – including the brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, nervous system, and immune system – are still developing, environmental pollutants may be absorbed differently and cleared less effectively.
- Learn more about children's environmental health.
Children are not little adults!
- During pregnancy, changes in the body may influence responses to environmental contaminants, increasing risks to developing babies who are going through critical development phases.
- Infants and toddlers are rapidly growing. Behaviors such as crawling on the ground and putting objects in their mouths make them more vulnerable to pollutants.
- Young children and adolescents tend to spend more time outside playing where they can be at risk to pollutants including air pollution and extreme heat.
- From conception to adolescence, children’s organ and immune systems are still developing, and exposure to chemicals and pollutants during childhood can have long-term or even lifelong health consequences.
- Learn more about children's unique behaviors and lifestages.
Want to start learning about children’s environmental health at EPA, but don’t know where to start? Watch the short video discussing why children are more vulnerable than adults to sources of environmental contaminants.
Asthma
Asthma & Children's Health StoryMap
The Asthma and Children's Health StoryMap provides insights into children’s health, asthma and the environment using data from America’s Children and the Environment (ACE).
Asthma is a serious, sometimes life-threatening, chronic respiratory disease that affects the quality of life for more than 4.5 million children.
Asthma cases are on the rise, affecting how children play and live – dive into asthma and children’s health by the numbers!
- Studies have shown that a majority asthma cases begin before the age of six.
- Asthma is uncontrolled in approximately 50% of children, resulting in frequent and intense episodes of symptoms.
- Emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and the number of missed school days are higher among children with uncontrolled asthma.
- Half of students diagnosed with asthma miss at least one day of school per year.
- The average annual medical costs of asthma were nearly $1,314 per child or $4.3 billion dollars in total U.S. healthcare costs in 2022.
Healthy Homes & Cleaning Products
Protect your kid's health now and into the future!
- Check your home for environmental risks, such as pollutants like lead, mold, radon, and volatile organic compound sources.
Disinfectants are powerful tools for controlling the spread of disease and illness, but they can harm children's health if used or stored incorrectly.
- Keep these products out of reach from children and follow the directions for use on the label – pay attention if it says children should not use or touch the product.
Little changes make big differences in children's environmental health.
- Switch to Safer Choice products when cleaning space where children spend their time for science-based reassurance.
Healthy Schools
Healthy schools equal successful students!
- Pollutants in and around schools and other learning environments can affect attendance for students and staff, the ability of children to concentrate, academic performance, and the long-term health of both students and educators.
- Environmental threats – like lead, mold, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, and more – could impact schools, making it difficult for children to focus, learn, and thrive.
- Preparing for disasters and emergencies is especially important in schools. Natural disasters and emergencies like wildfire, smoke events, floods, and extreme heat are affecting schools across the nation.
EPA has resources to support schools and childcare facilities that are looking to improve their learning environments.
- Good indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools can foster better learning and improve student health. Schools can use the IAQ Tools for Schools resources to get started.
- Keep childcare centers top notch! Take the Healthy Childcare and Early Learning Facilities Self-Assessment to ensure the space is clean and healthy.
Lead
Lead & Children's Health StoryMap
The Lead and Children's Health StoryMap provides insights into children’s health, lead and the environment using data from the America’s Children and the Environment (ACE).
Children are uniquely susceptible to lead exposure due to their developing bodies and brains, which absorb lead more easily than adults.
- Even low levels of lead exposure can have profound effects on a child’s health, including damage to the brain and nervous system, reduced IQ, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, slowed growth, hearing problems, and anemia.
- In rare cases, ingestion of lead can cause seizures, coma and even death.
- These impacts can have lasting consequences on a child's educational and personal development.
- Learn about lead.
Regular blood lead testing is vital for early detection of exposure.
- The CDC recommends testing at 12 and 24 months, as early intervention can prevent the severe long-term effects of lead poisoning.
Protect Your Family Pamphlet
Known information about lead-based paint must be disclosed before renting or buying a home built before 1978. The "Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home" pamphlet is available in multiple languages.
Lead exposure often comes from lead-based paint in older homes, contaminated soil, and drinking water from lead pipes.
- Understanding common sources of lead exposure is crucial for parents and caregivers to effectively reduce exposure risks.
- There’s only one way to know if there’s lead in your home – by getting it tested! Talk to your health department about testing for lead in water, paint, dust and soil.
- Caregivers can also take proactive steps to protect their children by maintaining a clean home environment, using cold water for cooking and drinking, and ensuring that children wash their hands frequently, especially after outdoor play.
EPA is committed to addressing and reducing lead exposures – especially to children – working in coordination with federal, state, Tribal and local partners to make considerable progress.
- Despite great improvements over the last 50 years, ongoing exposures to lead in the environment – including where our families live, work, and play – present a health risk to many people nationwide, especially children.
- Learn more about EPA programs and laws to reduce lead exposure.
- Learn more about EPA's leadership under the Federal Lead Action Plan.
Per- & Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Because children are still developing, they may be more sensitive to the harmful effects of chemicals such as PFAS.
Breast milk from mothers with PFAS in their blood and formula made with water containing PFAS can expose infants to PFAS.
- It may also be possible for children to be exposed in utero during pregnancy.
Scientists continue to do research on PFAS exposure and its effects on human health.
- Current peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that exposure to certain levels of PFAS may lead to reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women, and developmental effects or delays in children including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes.
EPA is committed to providing meaningful, understandable, and actionable information on PFAS to the American public.
Resources for Communities
Find children’s health experts in your community!
- Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSUs) are dedicated to shielding children from environmental contaminants, offer invaluable advice and resources to parents, caregivers, healthcare providers and more.
Prepare for the unexpected!
- Learn about best practices for protecting children during an environmental emergency like a smoke event or heat wave.