WHO: Road accidents leading cause of 'unintentional injuries' on children

Road accidents account for a majority of “unintentional injuries” inflicted among children, a report of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) showed.

In the “World Report on Child Injury Prevention,” WHO and Unicef said road mishaps are also the leading cause of child disability. 

Road accidents kill some 260,000 children and injure around 10 million others every year.

Drowning follows, killing more than 175,000 children annually while fire-related burns claim the lives of 96,000 children each year. 

The death rate is 11 times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income nations.

Falls ranked fourth, killing 47,000 children annually but some hundreds of thousand others sustain less serious injuries from a fall.  

In 5th place was unintended poisoning which killed over 45,000 children.

“Child injuries are an important public health and development issue. In addition to the 830,000 deaths every year, millions of children suffer non-fatal injuries that often require long-term hospitalization and rehabilitation,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan.

Chan said the cost of such treatment could throw an entire family into poverty.

“The costs of such treatment can throw an entire family into poverty. Children in poorer families and communities are at increased risk of injury because they are less likely to benefit from prevention programs and high quality health services,” she added.

The World Report on Child Injury Prevention provides the first comprehensive global assessment of childhood unintentional injuries and prescribes measures to prevent them.

Unicef executive director Ann Veneman said the report is the result of a collaboration of more than 180 experts from across the world.

“It shows that unintentional injuries are the leading cause of childhood death after the age of nine years and that 95 percent of these child injuries occur in developing countries. More must be done to prevent such harm to children,” Veneman added.

To minimize accidents, the two agencies have recommended several measures, including the passage of laws on child-appropriate seatbelts and helmets, hot tap water temperature regulation and child resistant closure on medicine bottles.

The agency also proposed measures on 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; and strengthening emergency medical care and rehabilitation services.