World Report on Child Injury Prevention: Opportunity for scaling injuring prevention in Africa

Child injuries are a global public health problem and are among the leading cause of death for children aged 5–14 years in Africa. According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Burden of Disease, 2004, over 200 000 children under the age of 15 years died as a result of injury in 2004 (WHO, 2008). Unintentional injuries accounted for almost 90% of these child injury deaths. Beyond these fatalities, there are several thousand children who have survived with varying degrees of disability. While many prevention programmes have been shown to be effective, much more awareness and political commitment is needed in most parts of the world, including Africa, in order to reduce this unacceptably high number of fatalities.African Safety Promotion Vol. 6 (2) 2008: pp. 63-6