Child Accidents and Prevention Plans
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A report, issued Tuesday by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, stated that 830,000 children are killed around the world every year because of accidents.
The New York Times reported on the WHO’s findings including that 95% of all injuries to children happened in poorer countries while injuries account for 40% of child deaths in richer countries. While wealthier countries are able to do more for children’s health care, many fail to take simple steps to prevent accidents. Dr. Etienne Krug, a director at the WHO who oversaw the report, explained that the problem is due to a combination of ignorance and fatalism because people think these accidents are inevitable.
But, the report shows that these accidents are preventable if certain steps are taken. For example, in poor countries, while newborns are more likely to die of diseases, toddlers and small children are more likely to drown. The report explained that wooden covers on wells and narrow-mouthed buckets for drinking would prevent small children from falling into them.
Another simple safety technique is to put childproof caps on kerosene containers used for cooking. The report found that 5,000 children die a year from drinking kerosene.
In the US, accidents kill 12,175 children per year, which is more than all disease deaths of children combined.
Car accidents were the leading cause of American children’s deaths.
“The three changes that would save the most lives of American children, said Ileana Arias, the Centers for Disease Control’s chief of injury prevention, would be for more states to pass “graduated driver’s license” laws, which forbid teenagers to drive at night or with teenage passengers, to enforce seat-belt laws on teenagers and to make all children younger than 8 ride in booster seats.”
But car accidents did not only affect richer countries like the United States. The increase in globalization has lead to an increase in children’s deaths from road accidents in poorer countries.
Sweden and Canada were cited favorably in the report for taking significant steps to reduce child accidents and cut fatality rates.
Every parent can take simple steps to ensure that their children are kept safe from everyday hazards. Here is some general information about defective and dangerous products. Here is some more specific information about defective toys and consumer goods.