Child Injury

Ten facts about child injuries
 
Unfortunately for all parents there will come a time in your parental life where you must face the prospect of your child suffering an injury. There are numerous ways this can happen but it's generally common practice for some form of injury to occur to our children at most points in their lives. Whether this is from a cut, a burn or a break there are numerous ways in which our children can get hurt and some from the most basic of tasks. We have compiled ten facts for you to go through in regards to these injuries in the hope that you will better understand the prevention needed when it comes to your child becoming injured.
 
1. Every year in Australia there are approximately 300 children aged between 0-14 years old that are killed as result of unintentional injuries. A further 60,000 children are hospitalised for the same reasons. These are the injuries often caused by accidents which generally can be prevented if more careful observations and care is taken. Some simple preventative steps and safety practices are usually needed in order for such occurrences not to happen and they usually are very simple as well.
 
2. Deaths from injuries are the leading cause of death amongst children aged between 0-14. Injury deaths are more common than deaths from disease, asthma and cancer combined. With statistics like this imagine all the children that could be saved if better supervision was conducted all the time?
 
3. Injuries are the second leading cause of childhood hospitalisation, after respiratory diseases including asthma and bronchitis. As per point 2, imagine the trips to hospital that could be prevented should more careful consideration be given to certain situations and ensuring our children are a lot safer than they are?
 
4. With all these injuries occurring to our children and the amount of hospital visits that accrue nationally, we see a total cost of approximately $1.5 billion from these childhood injuries. This is a massive amount when you put it all into context and the fact that it can be prevented.
 
5. Of all the injuries to children, 95% of them are completely unintentional. The remaining 5% sadly occur from other factors such as violence, abuse, neglect and even suicide, which is also possible among young children. Any situations such as these in the 5% barrier should always be reported if you have any knowledge of them.
 
6. While all these statistics are staggering to say the least, it should be noted that deaths as a result of injuries and accidents have in fact halved since 1979. Back then it used to be around 2 deaths on average a day with children, whereas now we are looking at around 1 death a day. This of course has been a great advancement in child safety but experts believe that we could still easily reduce this even further and have 80 deaths a year and 20,000 hospitalisations prevented if precautions were taken better.
 
7. Of all the age groups for childhood deaths caused by injury, the most at risk are children under the age of 5. In fact out of all the deaths in children, half of the deaths occur to children under the age of 5. This is generally due to the lack of development as well as limited life experience these children have. A sense of responsibility on the parents is also important as lack of supervision on these children can also be easily blamed on this statistic. It's important to always watch your children, especially if they fall into this age group.
 
8. In childhood deaths by injuries, the most common causes for these are from the following:

• car accidents
• cars running over and hitting children
• drowning deaths, mainly from children falling into pools at their house that haven't been correctly fenced or secured
• fires in the home, mainly house fires

75% in total of all deaths caused by injuries happened with these as direct causes
 
9. In childhood hospitalisations by injuries, the most common cause for these is from the following:

• falls from heights such as beds and cots
• poisoning from household products
• scalds and burns from hot products
•  choking on items placed in their mouths
• dog bits and animal attacks

Schoolchildren also have their own category, with injuries occurring from:

• falls from play equipment
• cutting or sever piercing caused by such items as glass
• injuries from being a car passenger
• injuries from being hit by cars

 
10. As a child starts off in life the most common place for injury is in their own home, but as they get older they will get injured in all sorts of places from playgrounds to schools to their friend's houses. You should always teach your children about safety, especially when you aren't there to properly supervise them.