February 09, 2016
Choking tops car crashes in child death stats
Safekids Aotearoa is welcoming a decline in childhood unintentional deaths and injuries but says more work needs to be done, especially for Maori and Pasifika children.
It reported a 19 percent decline in overall unintentional injury death rates between 2001 and 2010..
That was driven by a 48 percent decline in motor vehicle crash deaths involving children as passengers, a 21 percent drop in non-motor vehicle traffic death involving pedestrians, scooters or cycles, and a 47 percent drop in drowning deaths.
However, Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy, which also includes choking, suffocation and strangulation, increased over the decade, overtaking motor vehicle crash deaths.
Safekids Aotearoa director Ann Weaver says the decline shows that investments in child injury prevention, such as environment and product modification, legislation and education, are working.
Children under 5 had the highest rates of unintentional injury death; boys were 1.5 times more at risk; and Maori and Pacific children had the highest injury rate among all ethnicities.
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