Kidsafe commends the World Health Assembly child injury prevention resolution

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Thursday, 26 May 2011 16:45

Kidsafe commends the World Health Assembly child injury prevention resolution and calls on the Australian Government to act

Kidsafe, the Australian member of Safe Kids Worldwide, today commended the World Health Assembly for passing a resolution urging member countries such as Australia to prioritise the prevention of child injuries.

Stated in the resolution is the emphasis on a “…need to expand child survival programming and financing streams to include child injury prevention.”

President of Kidsafe, Dr Mark Stokes, encourages the Australian Government to continue to provide leadership on the resolution nationally.

‘Australia is fortunate to have one of the best injury prevention programs in the world. Despite this, approximately 4 children a week in Australia die and around 180 children a day are admitted to hospitals as a result of injury. Some of these children will suffer permanent scarring or disability as a result of their injury.

Injury remains the greatest cause of death of children in Australia between the ages of one and fourteen years.’

‘Currently, the estimated cost to the Australian health system of childhood injury is more than $4 billion annually.’

The National Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Plan 2004-2014 identifies ten principles for effective injury prevention and safety promotion in Australia, including:

1. Appropriate resource levels for injury prevention and safety promotion; and

2. Leadership in injury prevention and safety promotion.

Despite these identified criteria, Kidsafe is concerned that these areas are not being addressed. Kidsafe calls on the Australian Government to identify an Australian Government agency with dedicated responsibility for child injury prevention.

Dr Stokes explained, ‘At present, a lack of responsibility has resulted in limited resource allocation and no coordinated leadership for injury prevention and safety promotion at the national level.’

Background Information

World Health Assembly adopts resolution targeted at saving the lives of children from injury

Today, the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on child injury prevention, the first ever on the topic. The resolution, spurred by the WHO/UNICEF World report on child injury prevention, provides a platform to support action on preventing child injuries, which are the leading cause of death for children over the age of 5 years. More than 830,000 children die each year from road traffic crashes, drowning, burns, falls and poisoning.

The resolution urges Member States to prioritize the prevention of child injuries; implement the recommendations of the World report on child injury prevention; and develop and put into practice a multisectoral policy and plan of action with realistic targets. It calls upon the WHO Director-General to collaborate with Member States in establishing science-based policies to prevent child injury; to encourage research, build capacity, and mobilize resources for child injury prevention; and to continue providing technical support to countries to develop and implement child injury prevention measures and strengthen emergency and rehabilitation services. The resolution also calls upon the WHO Director-General to establish a network with organizations of the United Nations system, international development partners and nongovernmental organizations to ensure effective coordination and implementation of activities for child injury prevention.

In adopting the resolution, around 20 Member States voiced their strong support for the initiative, many making note of the toll that injuries take on the lives of children in their countries. The delegate from Bangladesh noted that child injury is a "national catastrophe", while the delegate from the United States stated that child injury prevention should be part of each country's plan for child and adolescent health and that child injury prevention should be integrated within child survival programming.

The adoption of this historic resolution by the World Health Assembly is a landmark accomplishment, as it firmly frames child injury as a major child survival issue and highlights the need to expand child survival programming and financing streams to include child injury prevention.