Surviving Childhood

Extract

In the first month of life, prematurity and congenital anomalies account for the majority of deaths to children. Between one month and one year of age, the still unexplained Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or cot death remains very much an unsolved problem causing untold distress and grief to parents.

If, however, we consider the childhood commencing at one month of age and carrying through until the completion of at least primary school and possibly secondary schooling, then accidents cause over a quarter of the deaths and, in considering those deaths in the first five years of life, drowning constitutes the number one cause. If we are looking at a spectrum from birth to fifteen years, deaths from motor vehicle accidents, whether as a passenger, pedestrian or bicyclist, are responsible for 50% of the deaths. Drowning features second on the list whilst such things as burns, poisoning, electrocution and suffocation now constitute a very small percentage of the deaths in childhood.