More Thai children are dying from injury than communicable and non-communicable diseases, a groundbreaking new report has revealed.
The report’s findings were based on face-to-face interviews with nearly 400,000 people in both urban and rural households, making it the country’s largest-ever community based survey.
The official launch of the Child Injury in Thailand report at Chulalongkorn University on August 23 attracted more than 100 people, including Thai television networks ITV and Channel Seven.
The report is the result of collaboration between the Institute of Health Research (IHR) at Chulalongkorn University, The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Office for Thailand. The Ministry of Public Health also supported the survey. Dr Pimpa Techakamolsuk spoke at the launch on behalf of the Ministry.
Professor Chitr Sitthi-amorn of Chulalongkorn, the survey’s Principal Investigator and Senior Consultant, said the report was an important contribution to the awareness of the causes of child death in Thailand.
“No government or non-government agency can completely address the high numbers of children dying as a result of injury until the causes and extent of the problem are clear,” Professor Sitthi-amorn said.
“This study will contribute to our understanding of how significant the problem of child death as a result of injury is for all of Thailand.”
The Alliance for Safe Children’s co-founder, Ambassador “Pete” Peterson, said the key reason for undertaking this household survey was to capture those children whose deaths were not recorded in conventional statistics.
“One of our key findings is that, because there is no hope that a drowned child could be saved, they are simply buried without ever being seen by a health professional,” Ambassador Peterson said.
“This means that child’s death is never officially recorded. Child deaths from preventable causes such as drowning will only be reduced once we understand the extent of the problem.”
UNICEF Thailand Representative, Tomoo Hozumi, said the report provides evidence and justification why the issue of child injury prevention merits attention in Thailand.
"The report that we are launching today allows researchers, policy makers and practitioners in Thailand to assess the magnitude and scope of the problem systematically, identify the key causes and decide the course of action to tackle them. I hope the findings and recommendations of this report contribute to discussion and necessary actions by the concerned partners at all levels," Mr Hozumi said.
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