Drowning, other accidents kill 800,000 kids a year
Ben Stocking
Simple things like seat belts, childproof medicine caps and fences
around pools could help prevent up to half of the 2,000 accidental
deaths of children that happen each day around the world, UN officials
said Wednesday.
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A child rides motorcycle without a helmet in Hanoi, Vietnam. AP |
More than 800,000 children die each year from burns, drowning, car
accidents, falls, poisoning and other accidents, with the vast majority
of those deaths occurring in developing countries, according to experts
and a report released Wednesday by the World Health Organization and
UNICEF.
Tens of millions more suffer injuries that often leave them disabled
for life, said the report which was launched at a meeting of global
health experts in Hanoi. The World Report on Child Injury Prevention
2008 does not include injuries caused by domestic violence.
The problem is most acute in Africa and Southeast Asia, but no
country is immune, conference participants said, issuing an urgent call
for action.
"The price of failure is high," said Margaret Chan, the
director-general of the World Health Organization, speaking in a
videotape shown at the conference. "On current estimates, unintentional
injuries claim the lives of around 830,000 children worldwide every
year." The report calls on countries around the world to issue
prevention measures such as seatbelt and helmet laws, child-safe
medicine bottles, water heater controls and safer designs for nursery
furniture and toys. It also recommends various traffic safety
improvements and putting fences around pools and ponds to prevent
drowning. A child-friendly version with safety tips was issued at the
conference and online.
Such steps have been taken in many high-income countries and have
reduced child injury deaths by up to 50 percent over the last 30 years,
the report says.
Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF's executive director, said unintentional
injuries are the leading cause of death for children between 9 and 18
years old and 95 percent of these injuries occur in developing
countries.
"More must be done to prevent such harm to children," she said, also
speaking via video.
AP
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