Child Drowning
Child Drowning
Child Drowning
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Figure 8: Mortality among children 0-17 years old, by cause and age group<br />
100%<br />
80%<br />
60%<br />
40%<br />
20%<br />
0%<br />
0-1 1-4 5-9 10-14 15-17 0-17 1-17<br />
Unable to determine<br />
Noncommunicable disease<br />
Communicable disease<br />
Other Injury<br />
Suffocation<br />
Burns<br />
Assault<br />
Animals<br />
Fall<br />
Suicide<br />
Electrocution<br />
Road traffic<br />
<strong>Drowning</strong><br />
Source: Data from the countries included in surveys: Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey 2002, Cambodia Accident and Injury Survey 2006,<br />
Jiangxi China Injury Survey 2005, Thailand National Injury Survey 2003; population weighted for composite.<br />
Figure 8 combines data from the surveys and shows the prominence of drowning as it relates to overall<br />
child mortality in the countries surveyed. However, there are a number of caveats related to this<br />
composite:<br />
Sample surveys were used and sampling introduces uncertainty in the results.<br />
There is increased uncertainty in the results obtained for each cause of mortality because<br />
the pooling techniques used introduce additional uncertainty when combining the<br />
individual surveys.<br />
The composite is more representative of East Asia than South Asia due to the countries<br />
surveyed.<br />
For China and India, the two largest countries in Asia, only China (one province) is included in the<br />
composite. Jiangxi Province, a middle tier province in China, was selected to be representative of the<br />
country over all. Jiangxi, with a population of 44 million people, makes up only 4 per cent of the<br />
country’s population. India, which has an under-18 population of 447 million, 24 is not included and<br />
makes up a large proportion of the child population of the Asian region. However, the patterns and<br />
levels of drowning mortality for the composite closely match what is seen in China’s Disease<br />
Surveillance Points (DSP) system and India’s Million Death Study (MDS). Both of these use<br />
representative population-based national samples.<br />
One conclusion is that in Asian LMICs, which contain almost two-thirds of the world’s children, drowning<br />
needs to be an urgent health policy priority. It would help achieve progress in reducing mortality among<br />
children under five, and accelerate progress in improving mortality for children of all ages.<br />
24 United Nations <strong>Child</strong>ren’s Fund (2012). The State of the World’s <strong>Child</strong>ren 2012. New York: UNICEF, table 6, p. 109.<br />
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