GLOBAL EMBARGO LIFTED at 3pm AEDT on Wed 10 December 2008
The first comprehensive global assessment of unintentional childhood injuries was released by the World Health Organisation today. Despite Australia ranking amongst the world’s best, injury remains the most common cause of death for Australian children over the age of one.
For full resources including pictues, multimedia or a copy of the report, click here.
The report finds that the top five causes of injury deaths globally are:
- Road crashes: They kill 260 000 children a year and injure about 10 million. They are the leading cause of death among 10-19 year olds and a leading cause of child disability.
- Drowning: It kills more than 175 000 children a year. Every year, up to 3 million children survive a drowning incident. Due to brain damage in some survivors, non-fatal drowning has the highest average lifetime health and economic impact of any injury type.
- Burns: Fire-related burns kill nearly 96 000 children a year and the death rate is eleven times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
- Falls: Nearly 47 000 children fall to their deaths every year, but hundreds of thousands more sustain less serious injuries from a fall.
- Poisoning: More than 45 000 children die each year from unintended poisoning.
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Professor Ann Williamson is President of the Australian Injury Prevention Network (the national peak body for all age and all cause injury prevention and control in Australia) and Professor of Aviation Safety at the University of New South Wales.
“In Australia, injury is the most common cause of death for children under the age of 18 years. Fatal or serious injuries to children are true tragedies because they are almost always preventable. These injury deaths simply should not occur. The WHO report on child injury prevention highlights yet again that we need to increase our efforts to prevent child injuries. This report provides evidence from other countries around the world that action by governments and the community can have a major effect of reducing child injuries. We hope that we in Australia can take similar action.”
Pam Albany is a committee member and founder of the Australian Injury Prevention Network. She was a peer reviewer of the WHO Report and has 20 years experience working with government departments doing injury prevention work.
“All of the issues raised in the report like road trauma, drowning and serious burns are very much represented here in Australia. Now it’s not the same as in Africa or Asia, we have a better record than those regions, but it’s still fairly high and it’s one of the major reasons why children die or are admitted to hospital.
The Australian Government is walking away from managing trauma as a cause of death and hospitalisation for children. Trauma is a public health problem which requires many government agencies to manage the risks that children experience through better regulation (e.g. the integrity of swimming pool fencing is managed by local government, road authorities are responsible for the maintenance of appropriate child restraints in motor vehicles, the national government is responsible for better packaging of medications etc). Health Departments have the data and can encourage other agencies to manage risk better. If Health doesn’t drive the message home about trauma few government agencies are likely to pay attention. Unfortunately Health at national and state levels is no longer paying attention to a public health problem which is choking their hospitals.”
Paul Barach is Professor of Safety and Injury, Director of the Injury Risk Management Research Centre and Head (acting) of the School of Risk and Safety Sciences at the University of NSW.
“Injury is a leading cause of death and disability in young children in Australia. Injuries in children (such as from burns and scalds, poisonings, falls and near drowning) can have many lasting effects including disability and disfigurement and can impair a child’s development and future wellbeing. Most child injuries occur at home or in the yard. However child injury is not a normal or inevitable part of growing up, with most child injuries being predictable and preventable. Reducing child injuries will require a full appreciation of the child care microsystem, fuller understanding of safety systems and how to enable the design and regulation of safer environments. The WHO report is timely and courageous, and will act as a shining beacon in holding funders and politicians accountable for meaningful and sustainable actions.”
Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith is head of Prevention Research Services at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine and Monash University Department of Forensic Medicine. She’s also Head of Monash University’s World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Violence, Injuries and Disabilities
“Worldwide, at least 830,000 children under 18 years die each year from unintentional injury, and tens of millions require hospital care for non-fatal injury. While approximately 95% of the deaths occur in low and middle income countries, the majority are in Australia’s region (Asia/Pacific). Moreover, despite many successful interventions, injury remains the leading cause of death for children and young persons in Australia (after the first year of life) and an important and costly cause of morbidity.
Australian resourcing of child injury research and prevention is not commensurate with the size of the problem and its preventability either within Australia or in designated Australian Aid to developing countries in our region. For many regional countries, injury is now the leading cause of child death, following the epidemiological transition particularly from infectious disease causes. Drowning and road traffic injury are the leading causes of child injury deaths in our region.
Australia has a responsibility to its own children’s safety and to take a regional leadership role.”
Professor Mark Stevenson, Senior Director The George Institute for International Health. Mark contributed to both the road safety and pool safety sections of the WHO report.
Pool fencing:
“Drowning is a significant issue for Australia. Research I’ve undertaken highlights the benefits of isolation pool-fencing to prevent child drowning. Four-sided pool fencing reduces the likelihood of child drowning almost 2-fold compared with three-sided pool fencing. Legislation must look towards total isolation pool fencing for the safety of all young Australians. Inspections and education should also play a key part of any pool fencing legislation,”
Road safety:
“Road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death and serious injury in Australian children. What’s concerning is that there is a high proportion of children who are inappropriately restrained. Misuse of restraints can downgrade the level of protection in a crash, and legislation should encompass increased use of restraints. A new study The George Institute will be undertaking will uncover the best methods to increase the use of appropriate restraints and decrease misuse of child restraints in pre-school aged children in cars.”
Dr Julie Hatfield is a Senior Research Fellow at the Injury Risk Management Research Centre, University of NSW.
This important report highlights injury as a leading contributor to death and suffering of children worldwide, and emphasises that much can be done to prevent child injury. The already prominent role of road traffic injury is likely to grow with increasing motorisation in lower to middle income countries, and there is an urgent need to adapt proven road safety strategies to these contexts.”
Dr Shauna Sherker is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Injury Risk Management Centre, University of NSW.
“Congratulations to the World Health Organisation for this timely and comprehensive world report on child injury. Children, in Australia and elsewhere, are particularly vulnerable to injury from road crashes, drowning, burns, falls and poisoning. The good news is that many of these injuries are preventable. I hope that the WHO report will be quoted for years to come and bring much needed attention and action to the area of child injury prevention.”