Dec 10, 2008 - Safe Kids Worldwide Applauds World Report on Child Injury Prevention
Safe Kids Worldwide President & Chief Executive Officer Mitch Stoller joined world health leaders in supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s World Report on Child Injury Prevention (2008) launched today in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In its statement, Safe Kids Worldwide applauded the goals and action steps outlined in the World Report, and committed the weight of its 17-member country network in support of the WHO/UNICEF’s call to action to reduce the number of childhood injuries and deaths around the world.
Safe Kids Worldwide is the first and only international nonprofit organization dedicated solely to preventing unintentional childhood injury. Accidents kill one million children, each year around the world and permanently disable many more. In fact, more children ages 1 to 14 years die from accidents such as motor vehicle crashes, fires, drowning, poisoning and falls than any other cause. And almost all of these injuries are preventable.
Our focus is on promoting changes in attitudes, behaviors, laws and the environment to prevent accidental injury to children. Safe Kids Worldwide depends on the support of grass roots networks in its 17 member countries to implement safety programs and hands-on training throughout the world.
And these efforts have produced results. Canada achieved a 37 percent reduction in child accidental deaths in just seven years, the child death rate in Germany declined 80 percent since 1980 while Austria saw a 75 percent decline between 1983 and 2003. In the United States, we have contributed to a 45 percent reduction in the child fatality rate from accidental injury – saving an estimated 38,000 children’s lives.