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The State of Delaware received $375,000 through cooperative agreement EH21-2102 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in FY 2022. The funds address childhood lead poisoning prevention and surveillance programmatic activities being conducted from September 30, 2022 to September 29, 2023.

The strategies focus on

  • Ensuring blood lead testing and reporting
  • Enhancing blood lead surveillance
  • Improving linkages to recommended services

To learn more about these efforts in Delaware, contact the program below.

Delaware Division of Public Health
Office of Lead Poisoning Prevention
417 Federal Street, Ste 1
Dover, DE 19901
Phone: 302-744-4546

Success Story

Delaware Partnership with Latin American Community Center

Challenge

The city of Wilmington has the highest rate of children with elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) in Delaware, with three zip codes (19805, 405 elevated BLLs; 19802, 310 elevated BLLs; 19801, 205 elevated BLLs) in the city of Wilmington having the highest number of children with elevated BLLs between 2010 and 2017.

Intervention

Delaware’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program developed a partnership with the Latin American Community Center (LACC), which serves New Castle County, the county in which the City of Wilmington is located, to conduct a lead poisoning prevention outreach and awareness campaign targeting households with young children in New Castle County. LACC arranges for specially trained staff to contact New Castle County, families with children to encourage lead testing. From 2016 through 2018, in partnership with the LACC, Delaware’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program raised awareness of the dangers of lead poisoning and the need for childhood lead screening with the following activities:

  • Setting up a booth at 84 community events.
  • Engaging over 11,000 parents in one-on-one consultations.
  • Distributing over 4,000 lead awareness information pamphlets to parents.
  • Giving 29 presentations with over 315 attendees.
  • Conducting over 150 phone consultations.
  • Distributing 414 lead test kits to families.
  • Conducting 556 home assessments.

LACC also created radio and print ads in English and Spanish to raise awareness of blood lead testing. The print ads were placed in four local Hispanic publications that have a combined readership of 85,000. One of the publications also put the ads on their Facebook page, which was liked by over 3,000 people in September 2017. The radio ads played on two radio stations in English and Spanish, with a combined listenership of 40,000. In September 2017, LACC organized and promoted a lead poisoning prevention awareness event at its Early Development Center.

Impact

These efforts resulted in 40 children getting blood lead level screening from the Delaware Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

Funding for this work was made possible in part by NUE1EH001256 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the CDC; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.