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Affiliation
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Department of Family & Community Medicine , Baylor Scott & White Health, Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine , 1402 West Ave H, Temple , TX 76504 , USA. |
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Abstract
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Despite substantial reductions in the number of children killed by injury over the past few decades, injury continues to be a leading cause of death for children worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, injury is a leading killer of youth, affecting all age groups but with a particular impact on young people. For people between ages 5 and 44 years, injuries are one of the top three causes of death globally. In the United States, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children ages 1–4 years. Promoting age-appropriate injury prevention counselling or anticipatory guidance for childhood injury prevention should therefore remain a cornerstone in making further progress in injury control and safety promotion. After all, do not all children deserve to be in a safe environment?
During a recent international trip to a low-resourced country to assist with their injury control and safety promotion efforts, a concerned mother came out of her child's paediatrician's office and looked perplexed. She had just visited the paediatrician for a well-child visit for her eight-year old girl accompanied by her three other children. For a moment, I was wondering what her concerns were because I was waiting to go and chat with this well-liked paediatrician about a small injury control research project we were planning. Just as I was trying to pass this perplexed mother to enter the paediatrician's office, she made an eye contact with me and I immediately remembered that I had met her recently. She said she attended our recent community seminar on injury control and safety promotion where we talked about injury prevention in children. ‘Doctor, I was surprised my paediatrician never asked me any of the safety stuff you guys taught us the other day at the seminar. He never asked me whether I wore my seat belt when driving to the appointment. He never inquired as to whether we have a gun in the home and whether it is taken apart and stored in a locked cabinet. Neither did he ask whether we have a working smoke alarm in the home or whether we kept our medicines out of sight and reach of our little kids. He didn't even ask whether I put my little baby in a car seat when coming to this appointment.’ I tactfully assured her that perhaps her child's paediatrician had so much on his plate and hoped she practiced all these proven injury prevention strategies. This scenario is all too familiar! A gentleman I had befriended on this international trip also recounted how a visit to his family physician did not include a mention of injury prevention...
Language: en |