Innocenti Report Card February 2001 [antikvár]

Key findings Injury is the principal cause of child death in all developed nations -accounting for almost 40 per cent of deaths in the age group 1 to 14. Taken together, traffic accidents, intentional injuries, drownings, falls, fires, poisonings and other accidents kill more than 20,000 children every year in the OECD nations (Figure 2). Sweden, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands occupy the top four places in the league table of child injury deaths. At the bottom of the league are the United States and Portugal, where the rate of child injury deaths is over twice the level of the leading countries, and Mexico and South Korea where the rate is three to four times higher (Figure 1). At least 12,000 child deaths a year could be prevented if all OECD countries had the same child injury death rate as Sweden. Boys are 70 per cent more hkely to die by injury than girls (Box 2). The number of child deaths by injury in OECD nations fell by about 50 per cent between 1970 and 1995 (Figure 4).The share of injury deaths in total deaths rose from 25 to 37 per cent (Figure 5). Traffic accident deaths account for 41 per cent of all child deaths by injury (Figure 6). There is a need for a better 'fit' between research findings and current practice in injury prevention strategy. Many proven strategies for injury prevention are inadequately implemented. Although most countries lack data, it appears that the risk of child injury death rises steeply with poverty (Figure 12). The hkelihood of a child being injured or killed is also associated with single parenthood, low maternal education, low maternal age at birth, poor housing, large family size, and parental drug or alcohol abuse. In developing countries, an estimated one million children under 15 die each year firom injuries (Box 3).