Every week across the country, approximately 5 children die due to preventable, unintentional injury, and families are urged to be constantly aware of their children’s safety.
“Child injury ‘is not about the grazes’,” says Children’s Commissioner, Megan Mitchell.
“It’s about the serious injuries that can change lives in just a split second.”
A snapshot of Child Injury in Australia by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has revealed that in a 12 month period:
- 5 children per week died due to an unintentional injury. This figure has more than halved from the average of 14 child deaths per week in 1979
- 289 children were admitted to hospital due to a non-fatal drowning incident. These can cause severe, long term or permanent disability
- 2,027 children were admitted to hospital due to poisoning. More than half of these were poisoning incidents involving pharmaceuticals
- 7,036 children were admitted to hospital due to transport incidents. Over a third of these were bike related
- 26,734 children were admitted to hospital due to a fall. Falls from playground equipment were the most common cause.
“While great achievements have been made over the years in reducing child injury rates, the current rate is still too high,” says Ms Mitchell.
“It is important that organisations such as Kidsafe continue to work with the broader community to keep our children safe.”
This year, Kidsafe is proud to be partnering with Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) to launch the National Health and Medical Research Council approved National Guidelines for the Safe Restraint of Children Travelling in Motor Vehicles on National Kidsafe Day today.
Approximately 70% of children are incorrectly restrained when traveling in a vehicle.
“These guidelines will ensure that parents and carers across the country receive straightforward and consistent advice about how to keep children safe when travelling in cars,” said Peter Gibson, National President of Kidsafe.
A copy of the guidelines can be found here.
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