Global Health NOW: Child Injury Data and Advocacy Needed
Adnan A. Hyder, professor of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, director of the International Injury Research Unit and the Health Systems Program, and associate director of the Berman Institute of Bioethics

“…While high-income countries have been able to reduce by half the number of child fatalities over the last 30 years, this is not the case for [low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)], where childhood unintentional injuries unfortunately do not receive the attention they deserve. We already know from research in high-income countries that certain interventions — including seatbelts, helmets, and pool fences — save lives. … Why haven’t these advances been extended to LMICs? A global effort is underway to make the issue a priority for stakeholders and policymakers in areas of the world with rates of childhood deaths due to injury. … However … [a] more accurate picture of the burden of childhood unintentional injuries in LMICs — bolstered by real numbers, not just information based on models — is essential. Establishing injury surveillance systems and ensuring timely use of data for interventions would answer that need. … The child health, clinical, and injury prevention communities must work together to reduce the entirely preventable epidemic of childhood unintentional injuries” (4/7).