Last Wednesday, the World Health Organization announced the release of a groundbreaking report entitled The World Report on Child Injury Prevention, which provides the first comprehensive global assessment of unintentional childhood injuries and prescribes measures to prevent them. It concludes that if proven prevention measures were adopted everywhere at least 1000 children’s lives could be saved every day.
The report finds that the top five causes of child injury deaths are:
- Road crashes
- Drowning
- Burns
- Falls
- Poisoning
Child injury prevention measures cited in the Report include:
- Laws on child-appropriate seatbelts and helmets;
- Hot tap water temperature regulations;
- Child-resistant closures on medicine bottles, lighters and household product containers;
- Separate traffic lanes for motorcycles or bicycles;
- Draining unnecessary water from baths and buckets;
- Redesigning nursery furniture, toys and playground equipment;
- Strengthening emergency medical care and rehabilitation services
Download a copy of the Injury Prevention Report
See key figures, tables and maps
This list of child injury prevention best practices adopted in various countries is also helpful.
