The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC) & UNICEF jointly launched a new set of reports showing injury is the number one killer of children aged over one year old in Asia. Surveys from Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam reveal that injury is the leading cause of death and disability among children older than one year of age in these countries, with drowning taking the heaviest toll.

The survey findings confirm what has often been known within communities across the region: that the risk of dying from injury increases after infancy as children grow more independent and interact with their environment and as the threat of death from infectious and non-communicable diseases falls. Nearly half of all child deaths included in the studies happened after the age of five. 

The research, conducted over the last seven years, was spearheaded by UNICEF and The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC), working in partnership with local public health teams. Responses were gathered from face-to-face interviews done with more than half a million households covering more than 2 million people in the five countries. For the first time ever in the countries covered, the causes of death and disability among a representative sample of all children up to 18 years were reliably recorded. The results highlight injury – in its different forms – as an acute menace to children’s lives.

“The evidence is clear and undeniable.  Now it is time to act on it.  These deaths are as preventable as measles and diarrhea and no child health program can be complete without having injury interventions as part of the core activities” said Pete Peterson, President of TASC.

“If we are ultimately going to meet the Millennium Development Goal to reduce child mortality, it is imperative that we take action to address the causes of childhood injury,” said Anupama Rao Singh, Regional Director of UNICEF East Asia and Pacific. “We know that with a judicious mix of public health interventions - from investing more in awareness campaigns to equipping children and their parents with knowledge and skills - we can prevent the majority of these deaths.”

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