New York, Dec 10: More than 2,000 children die every
day due to unintentional or accidental injury and every year
tens of millions more worldwide are taken to hospitals with
injuries that often leave them with lifelong disabilities, a
new report by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF says.
The report says that unintentional injuries are the
leading cause of childhood death after the age of nine and of
them, 95 percent occur in developing countries.
The World Report on Child Injury Prevention provides the
first comprehensive global assessment of unintentional
injuries of children and prescribes measures to prevent them.
If proven prevention measures were adopted everywhere, at
least 1,000 children's lives could be saved every day, the
report suggests.
"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 hospitalisation and rehabilitation,"
said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.
"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 programmes and high quality health
services," she added.
"The report is the result of a collaboration of more than
180 experts from all regions of the world," said UNICEF
Executive Director Ann M Veneman.
Africa has the highest rate overall for unintentional
injury deaths.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 00:00