Child injury in Bangladesh

Child injuries are a growing global public health concern. Every day around the world lives of more than 2000 families are torn apart by the loss of a child to an unintentional injury or so-called "accident" that could have been averted (WHO-2008). Once children reach the age of five years, unintentional injuries are the biggest threat to their survival. Child injury is an emerging public health issue in Bangladesh too.
 Bangladesh is currently one of the very few countries in the world, which is on target for achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG)-4 relating to child mortality. There have been very rapid reductions in mortality, especially in recent years and among children aged over one month. However, this rate of reduction may be difficult to sustain and may impede the achievement of MDG 4.
Injury is the fifth leading cause of death and disability worldwide among those aged 15-59 years. The government of Bangladesh recognises injury prevention as a priority agenda that will help in alleviating poverty and achieving the MDG goals. The non-communicable  diseases (NCD) cluster of World Health Organisation (WHO) gives support to the  injury prevention and management programme of the government of Bangladesh. Overall objective of the programme is to reduce injury related deaths and disabilities through advocacy and sensitisation of policy planners and service providers on prevention of injuries; develop  national strategies and plan of action for injury prevention; increase awareness and practice of specific skills and behaviours by  injury prevention and safety promotion; increase capacity of health service providers on injury prevention and management.
Today, the biggest killer of Bangladeshi children between age 1 and 18 is injury. Two decades of child survival efforts in Bangladesh have paid off in a marked reduction of childhood deaths from infectious diseases. However, as childhood deaths from infectious diseases have dropped, injury has come to the fore as a leading cause of death for children 0-17 years. The Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey revealed that in 2003, 30,000 children in Bangladesh died from injury. This makes injury responsible for 38 per cent of all childhood (0-17 yrs) deaths in Bangladesh. An epidemiological transition is occurring in Bangladesh. So preventing child injury is the challenge for today.
The writer is lecturer, department of statistics, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur.
 siddikur_brur@yahoo.com