Child Safety

Childhood Injury 

Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death and hospitalisation for New Zealand children aged 0-14 years. Internationally, New Zealand does not do well preventing injury related death. We are ranked last out of the 25 OECD countries! 

Studies indicate a strong relationship between injury and social deprivation. Boys have higher numbers of injuries across most injury causes.

Some New Zealand Child Injury Facts:

• One child dies every 2 weeks from an injury at home.
• Each year about 2 classrooms of kids are hospitalised with burns from hot tap water.
• Doors account for 63% of kids hand injuries.
• A quarter of child pedestrians who end up in hospital are run over in their own driveway.
• Each year 700 kids cut themselves badly enough at home to be admitted to hospital.
• For under 5's, 40% of drownings happen at home. For children under one year, baths are the most common cause of drowning.  
• More than 500 children per year are hospitalised due to cycle-related injuries. Around 5 children die every year following a cycle-related injury.
• Every year on average 366 children aged 0-15 years are admitted to hospital due to poisoning.
• Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injury-related hospital admission for children aged 0-14 years in New Zealand.
• Around 4,854 children are hospitalised each year following a fall. That's around 405 children every month!

Taranaki Child Injury Statistics:

• On average, one child is hospitalised for a serious injury every single day in Taranaki.
• The most common cause of these hospital admissions is a fall (making up around 50% of injuries) followed by transport/road injury (around 10-15% of injuries).
• The majority of serious injuries to children happen in the home environment, particularly for under 5's.
• The total number of paediatric admissions for unintentional injury in Taranaki over the three year period 2003-2005 was 894, breaking down to 365 in 2003, 234 in 2004 and 295 in 2005.
• Boys are consistently more likely to be injured than girls.
• Maori are over-represented in child injury statistics accounting for 5.69% more injuries than would be expected given the proportion of the Taranaki population that they constitute.