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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 />

32

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