Childhood Injury Prevention

With the summer months here, I have been alarmed to be constantly reading of toddler deaths due to drowning. It made me wonder about child mortality in Canada. I found a great (albeit somewhat outdated) report by SafeKids Canada.

Here are some of the highlights:

Injury is responsible for more deaths in children between 1 and 14 than any other cause, despite efforts to raise safety awareness and the implementation of safety measures. That said, death rates for childhood injury dropped by 37% between 1994 and 2003.

The three leading causes of injury related death are motor vehicle collisions (17%), drowning (15%), and pedestrian injury (i.e., being hit by a car as a pedestrian) (14%).

Since reports of drowning prompted this review and since we have a pool in our complex, I have focused on the drowning statistics.

The report indicates that lack of supervision is a critical factor in drowning for children of all ages. In a 10-year review of drowning incidents, the Canadian Red Cross found that 42% of drowning victims ages 5 to 14 did not have adult supervision at the time. Another Canadian study showed that all children under age 2 who drowned in bathtubs had been left unsupervised for a period of time.

Drowning risks are closely tied to child development. Children under age 5 are attracted to water but lack a sense of danger. They are top heavy and vulnerable to falling into the water. Young children’s lungs are smaller than adults’ and fill quickly with water; they can drown quickly in as little as 5 cm (2 in) of water.

The report goes on to list the best ways to prevent injuries. For drowning, this includes: fencing in pools, wearing life jackets on boats, swimming lessons that include water survival skills (I highly recommend Aquaventures in Vancouver), close supervision (arms length), and avoiding the use of baby bath seats.

It is a wonderful resource for parents who want to keep their kids safe (and don't we all?). I will certainly be taking a close look at it.