A drive to reduce the number of children being injured in accidents was launched in the capital of south China's Guangdong Province yesterday.

Teachers from about 80 kindergartens attended a special training programme at Guangzhou Children's Hospital.

It was organized by Safe Kids Worldwide, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing children under the age of 14 from suffering accidental injuries.

It was the first time the kindergarten teachers have taken part in a home safety course. They will now go on to help train more than 25,000 parents across the city.

Statistics indicate that about 330,000 children are injured in accidents in Guangzhou annually, compared to 270,000 in Beijing and 250,000 in Shanghai.

More than 40 percent of unintentional injuries suffered by children happen at home, according to Martin R. Eichelberger, president and chief executive officer of Safe Kids Worldwide.

He added: "Home safety training should never be neglected. Prevention is much more cost-effective than treatment."

"What Safe Kids Worldwide has done is to minimize the risk of injuries to children in all of its 16 member countries, including China."

He said the group planned a range of other initiatives, such as winter vacation safety and fire prevention programmes, across China.

Chen Jialin, the father of a 4-year old boy in Guangzhou, said that his son could be very naughty, and that he had long yearned for training opportunities related to the safety of children.

In late March, Safe Kids Worldwide and FedEx Express launched a pedestrian safety campaign at an elementary school in downtown Guangzhou.

The campaign aimed to improve children's awareness of the need to take care while walking near roads.

It also called for improvements of the traffic environment in communities where primary schools are located to guarantee their traffic safety.

Among the main causes of injuries to children are traffic accidents, fire or burns, bites, poisoning, electric shocks, suffocation and drowning.

Meanwhile, kindergartens across Guangzhou have stepped up security in the wake of the fatal arson attack at a kindergarten in central China's Henan Province last week.

Three children died and 13 were injured in the blaze, which happened in the village of Shiguan under the city of Gongyi.

A 19-year-old was later arrested in connection with the fire.

"All the kindergartens in the city have since been urged to strengthen safety measures and on-campus management," said Wang Yulan, a kindergarten teacher in Guangzhou.

(China Daily May 16, 2006)