An eight-month old baby falls into boiling water, 60 percent of its
tiny body is scalded. A nine-year old boy falls from a tree and is
impaled by a branch. A school pupil is crushed to death in a road
traffic accident just crossing the street. More and more children
are being injured in accidents.
According to a report in Modern Life Daily some 26 percent
of deaths in childhood are caused by accidents. Zhang Qitao, deputy
director of the Pediatrics Department in the Second Clinical
Medical College of Harbin Medical University, speaks of causes of
injury and loss of life in children that include choking, drowning,
traffic accidents, toxic substances, burns and scalds. Most Chinese
families now have only one child. Consequently accidents to
children not only harm the victim but the effect on their families
and society is greater than ever.
According to the report not only were just over a quarter of child
deaths caused by accidents but this is now the main cause of death
in children both around the world and in China itself. The numbers
of such deaths are continuing to rise and have now overtaken all
other causes such as infection, malnutrition and cancer.
Trends
According to the research clear seasonal, regional and age
variations can be identified in the causes of unintentional injury
of children.
Choking, toxic agents and traffic accident are the main causes of
death in north China. However in south China, drowning, choking and
traffic accidents are the most likely causes. Urban children are
most at risk from road traffic accidents but for rural children the
most common cause of death is drowning.
Babies up to one year old are particularly vulnerable to choking.
Children of one through four years old are victims of drowning.
Fatal road traffic accidents claim their victims in the five
through 14 age group.
By
their very nature, children are active and curious about the world
around them. Their limited experience of life leaves them
vulnerable to all sorts of danger. They are prone to being easily
distracted. These weaknesses can be pointed to objectively as the
main underlying factors giving rise to accidents to children. And
of course these traits will be carried with them wherever they
go.
Prevention Is Always Best
The experts all agree that prevention is by far the best means of
keeping children out of harms way.
Sun Dongwei, a top leader at the Maternity and Child Health
Hospital in Harbin, believes that most accidents to children are
the result of carelessness and could be prevented if only teachers
and parents would raise their levels of safety consciousness.
The experts ask parents to put medicines, poisonous and sharp
articles well out of reach of curious little hands. The same holds
good for socks and other sundry small items that could lead to
choking. Children should not be allowed to talk while eating also
for fear of choking.
While sleeping the quilt should not cover the head and soft pillows
can also represent a danger. Children must be taught road safety
and adults should take care to set a good example themselves to
encourage safe habits.
Drawing on the American Experience
National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) founded in 1987 is
the only national organization devoted to the prevention of
accidental injury to children in the United States.
Member organizations cooperate with government, companies,
foundations and other organizations to educate parents, teachers,
legislators, firemen, police and others who care for children's
safety. Good use is made of the media and all this has surely
contributed to rates of accidental injury to the under 14s in the
United States decreasing some 37 percent in 14 years.
The field of safety legislation provides a good example. At first
there was only one state with laws requiring children to wear
helmets while cycling. But now this has grown to fifteen states and
is still increasing. And this is paying off with reductions of the
order of 40 percent in the numbers of children lost in cycling
accidents.
Year 1994 saw measures brought in to make cigarette lighters
difficult for young children to operate. This led to a reported 42
percent reduction in children playing with lighters and consequent
decreases of 31 percent and 26 percent in death and injury from
this cause.
(china.org.cn, translated by Wu Nanlan, November 1, 2002)