The lives of children and young people are ending prematurely and unnecessarily due to unintentional injury.
- Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children aged from five to 19 years.
- Tens of millions of children require hospital care every year for non-fatal injuries.
When a child reaches the age of nine years old, drowning, road traffic injuries, burns and poisoning together cause the biggest threat to his or her survival.
- Child injuries remain a problem in high-income countries and account for 40% of deaths.
In the UK alone, unintentional injury is a leading cause of death and illness among children aged one to 14 years, and causes more children to be admitted to hospital each year than any other reason.
- Unintentional injury results in more than six million visits to A & E departments.
- Approximately two million of these involve children.
- This costs the NHS approximately 140 million pound.
- Half of the injuries occur at home.
- Unintentional injuries are a substantial and preventable public health problem, and represent a significant burden to society.