*One a small percentage of families in need of diapers are able to access them through a "diaper bank".
Objectives. To document the collective effort of diaper banks in the United States and to estimate the percentage of low-income children whose diaper need is met through these efforts.
Methods. For each state, we compared the number of children younger than 4 years in families living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level with the number of children served by diaper banks in each state. We collected data reporting all 2016 activities from diaper banks (nā=ā262) via survey from January to March 2017.
Results. In each state, the percentage of children experiencing diaper need that received assistance from a diaper bank ranged from 0% to 16% per month.
Conclusions. The findings from this study highlight that a small proportion of low-income families accessed diapers through the existing community-based safety net provided by a national network of nonprofit diaper banks.
Public Health Implications. Policies at the federal, state, and municipal level are needed to alleviate this consequence of poverty for children and their families.
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