Did you know that nearly 1 million children across the globe die every year from injuries that could have been prevented?
In December 2009, the World Health Organization and UNICEF issued the first ever world report on child injury prevention.
Three years in the making, the “World Report on Child Injury Prevention” raises awareness about the magnitude of child injuries globally and draws attention to effective intervention strategies. One of the report’s eight editors is Dr. Fred Rivara, an international pediatric injury expert and vice chair of pediatrics at the University of Washington.
One of the interesting facts is that the benefits of increasing development in middle-income and low-income countries, such as China, India and others in Africa, Asia and South America, are accompanied by an increase in child injury from urbanization, road traffic, access to machinery and related risks.
At the same time, child injuries remain a major cause for concern in high-income countries, including the United States, where injury accounts for 40 percent of all child and adolescent deaths.
Governments, health-care systems and law enforcement can take steps to improve and strengthen communities for children. But, keeping children safe is not just a global, national or even a state problem. It's one we face each day in our own communities, including here in the Northwest.
“The most important step in protecting our children from injury is to view all injuries as preventable,” Rivara said. “Injuries are not ‘accidents’ and can be anticipated and prevented.”
This starts with recognizing the areas or activities that present the greatest risk and taking steps to ensure that children have adequate supervision, are engaged in safe activities and have access to safety equipment such as bike helmets while riding. The report also outlines many specific actions that we can take as individuals, parents, grandparents and teachers to promote child safety.
Road Traffic Safety:
- Be a role model. Don't speed, drink and drive, or jaywalk. Always buckle up.
- Make sure children riding in your car are strapped into an appropriate, approved child-restraint, car or booster seat.
- Ensure that all children wear a properly fitted helmet when riding on a bicycle or motorbike.
- Teach all children to stop, look and listen before crossing the road and to think about the safest place to cross. Children under age 10 are not able developmentally to cross streets safely by themselves.
- Encourage them to wear white, bright or reflective clothing when walking near traffic to improve their visibility to others.
Drowning:
- Cover or remove all water hazards in and around the house including fountains, ponds and wells.
- Install four-sided fencing around your home swimming pool.
- Enroll your child in a swimming or water safety program, taught by a certified instructor.
- Make certain that you, or another adult such as a lifeguard, watch children at all times when they are swimming or near water.
- Always ensure that children use an approved flotation device when boating.
Falls:
- Use stair gates to prevent small children from falling down stairs.
- Install guards on windows that are above the ground floor.
- Move bedroom furniture away from second-story windows so that young children can’t fall out of the window.
Burns:
- If a child is burned, immediately administer first aid to stop the burning process.
- Install a smoke alarm on each floor of your house and test it monthly to make sure that it is working.
Poison:
- Remove any toxic products from your home that do not have to be stored there, such as pesticides and bottled kerosene.
- Store all drugs and other poisons (including household cleaning products) behind lock and key or out of the reach of children. Make sure all have child-resistant caps.
For more information on child injury prevention, including the complete text of the world report, visit the WHO Web site at www.who.int/en.