HUD Marks National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week

Each year, National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week is a call to bring together individuals, organizations, industry, and state, tribal, and local governments to increase lead poisoning prevention awareness in an effort to reduce childhood exposure to lead. Approximately 3.6 million families have young children who live in homes contaminated with lead-based paint hazards. Children of low-income families living in older unassisted housing face the greatest risk of lead poisoning. To help focus more public attention to lead poisoning prevention, HUD joined other federal agencies and a cross section of public health and other advocacy organizations to promote National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week.

This annual national public health education campaign comes after HUD recently awarded a record $319 million to state, local, and tribal communities to remove lead and other home health and safety hazards. In addition, HUD awarded $8.4 million to research organizations to study new, more cost-effective methods to address residential health hazards.

HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined together to develop the Partner Information Toolkit, which has many outreach resources, and suggestions for outreach techniques, all aimed at mobilizing community action for National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week and beyond.