Child injury prevention: Home injuries and bicycle injuries

Injuries are the leading cause of death for children and a major cause of short-and long-term disabilities. Nearly all injuries are predictable and controllable events that can be anticipated and avoided. Injury burden includes direct medical care and rehabilitation costs as well as the loss of wages of the individual and productivity. As a public health approach, the process of preventing injuries is based on focusing on the problem by measuring the occurrence of an injury, identifying relevant risk factors, ascertaining the natural history of the injury, intervening to reduce the number or severities of injuries, and evaluating the results of the interventions. Injury prevention is categorized by three general approaches: the use of the tools of education to promote behavioral changes, the tools of environmental modification, and the tools of legal requirements and prohibitions. Four aspects of child development (physical, cognitive, emotional, and social) and learning styles should be considered when developing educational approaches for children. Public health providers should regard environment modification as a wide range of interventions, ranging from product design to social attitudes and should understand that limited child s developmental stage is a reason for modifying environment, not an obstacle. For injury prevention, we should consider the law as a tool, not a barrier. Here the author introduces injury prevention approaches for home injuries and bicycle injuries as an example.