Injuries and poisoning in children
Unintentional injuries are emerging as an important, largely preventable, growing public health problem in children in developing countries: the Eastern Mediterranean Region has the second highest estimated mortality rate in children under-five per 100 000 population in the world, after the African region.
Together with road traffic injuries, drowning, burns and falls, poisoning is a major contributor to the burden of injury in children. In the group under 20 years old, children under-five have the highest mortality rates related to unintentional poisoning per 100 000 population in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. While children under the age of one year have the highest rates of fatal poisoning, non-fatal poisoning is more common in the age group 1 to 4 years old.
Exposures occur much more frequently in children below 5 years old than older children, because of their curiosity to explore the environment and tendency to put things in their mouth, their unawareness of the risks, and play patterns. Data on morbidity are often limited to those collected at poison control centres. It is expected that for every death from injury in children, a substantial number of non-fatal injuries, outpatient visits and hospital admissions are likely to occur.
Receive our email alerts
IMCI pre-service education: guide to evaluation