In late May, Sesame Workshop first partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services on a new PSA campaign focused on the importance of providing parents, teachers and children with accurate information about how to practice healthy habits, highlighting proper hand washing and simple everyday actions that lead to staying healthy and keeping germs away. The PSAs are an extension of Sesame's Healthy Habits for Life initiative, which helps young children and their caregivers establish an early foundation of healthy habits.

On a global scale, Sesame Workshop was the first nonprofit to respond to the flu outbreak in Mexico, with the immediate creation of four PSAs featuring the beloved Muppets of Plaza S?©samo and several Mexican celebrities who donated their time to the cause. The flu prevention messaging has reached millions of children and their families both in Mexico and the United States.

The PSAs are part of an initiative to provide practical steps recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help prevent the spread of the flu virus and other infectious disease, including:

Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Keep your distance from others if you are sick. When possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick, and don't send your children to childcare or school if they are sick. Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing and sneezing. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

The Department of Health and Human Services will be distributing the PSAs via satellite to television stations nationwide later this afternoon. Feed information will be sent out later today.

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