Media statement

The MRC/UNISA and WHO will be launching the World Report on Child Injury Prevention on Thursday, 20 August at the premises of the MRC in Parow Valley, Cape Town.

This launch will take place at a Consultative Meeting that will allow an opportunity for the South African Child Injury Prevention sector to discuss the WHO/UNICEF World Report on Child Injury Prevention. The MRC-UNISA Crime Violence and Injury Research Unit (CVI) and the World Health Organisation are the host of the meeting. Little is known of the distribution of the various kinds of injuries among South African children. The five leading causes of child injury death in are road-traffic injuries, particularly pedestrian ones – a mode of transportation characteristic of the poor. Also of importance, but in smaller proportions are drowning, burns and, in some cities, firearm injuries.

The World Report highlights several critical issues such as road crashes, drownings, burns, falls and poisoning. The World Report was compiled by over 180 international groups of experts, including a number of South Africans. The Report will be discussed within the context of high South African childhood injury mortality and morbidity rates. The National Injury Mortality Surveillance System estimates that about 9% of all injury deaths (between 60 000 and 70 000 deaths per annum) occur to children (aged 14 and younger). Many others are injured with estimates of up to 20 hospitalisations per childhood injury fatality. The trauma to individual children, their families and communities is incalculable. The Report asserts that many of these deaths and injuries are preventable and highlight a number of strategies with a demonstrated injury reduction impact.

The Consultative Meeting will bring together South African policy, research and practitioner groupings, as well as representatives from the South African Government and WHO for a discussion of the prevention recommendations and implications of the World Report.

Such a Consultative Meeting will promote our collective responses to the deleterious circumstances that underpin the occurrence of childhood injury, whether due to traffic crashes, burns, drowning, falls or poisoning. The Consultative Meeting would thus highlight the current state of knowledge in the field, particularly with respect to the strategies and actions that may be marshalled in the prevention of injury; provide an opportunity for SA partners to engage each other on safety priorities; mobilize resources and interest to attend to these priorities; and reformulate implementation strategies; and; promote the efforts of legislative and civil society partners around the further development of current pro-child safety policy and legislation.

Date: 20 August 2009

Venue: MRC Conference Centre, Francie Van Zijl Drive, Parow Valley

Time: 09:00 – 14:30

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For more information on the launch and report contact: Julian Jacobs on 082 454 4902