In addition to the chronic health impacts of unhealthy
housing such as lead poisoning,
asthma, and cancer,
unsafe housing conditions also interfere with the immediate health and well-being
of children through unintentional injuries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention state that unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death
in all children ages 1-21. However, there is a disparity
in the rates that these accidental injuries are experienced. Individuals with
low socioeconomic standing, especially urban African-American children, have
historically experienced greater rates of injury. Additionally, male children
also tend to experience a higher rate of injury.
Although the type of unintentional
injury most likely to occur varies with the age of the child, the
National Safe Kids Campaign identifies fire, drowning, suffocation,
choking, falls, unintentional firearm injury, and poisoning as leading
causes of death in the home.
Reducing Risks
Although unintentional injuries are by definition accidental,
there are basic precautions that can be taken in the home to help limit the
conditions conducive to injury:
Properly and consistently use safety devices such as smoke detectors, bicycle
helmets, gates, and child-proof containers and latches.
Actively supervise children’s activities, including continuously monitoring
children while they are in or near water and generally restricting children’s
access to areas containing potentially hazardous materials or objects.
Keep other dangerous items out of children’s reach — knives,
handles from pots on the stove, hot liquids, appliance and window treatment
cords, etc.
Know and have accessible important phone numbers — emergency response
teams, poison control, family doctors, etc.
Additional behaviors, such as refraining from cigarette
smoking in the home,
can reduce multiple health risks to children including chronic health impacts
(asthma) as well as unintentional
injury — residential fires caused by smoking materials (including cigarettes)
are the leading cause of fire-related death.
Creating a safer home environment will serve not only to
lower the risk of children’s unintentional injury, but also to assist
in the establishment of an overall healthier home environment.
American Academy of Pediatrics - The
Injury Prevention Program
AAP’s Injury Prevention Program is an educational program that aims to prevent
common injuries in children under 12 from sources such as poisons, falls, burns,
vehicles, and more. Their website provides age-related safety sheets, national
campaign information, and other educational resource.
National
Safe Kids Campaign
A national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the prevention of unintentional
injuries in children, SAFE KIDS also coordinates numerous state and local coalitions
nationwide. The national website contains information on the campaign, safety
tips, product recalls, and how to get involved in the various coalitions.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - National
Center for Injury Prevention and Control
This is the federal government’s lead agency for injury prevention. In addition
to education and factual resources on injury, violent injury, and unintentional
injury, their website provides information on national injury prevention and
research activities.
Su Familia (Your Family): 1-866-SU FAMILIA or 1-866-783-2645
The National
Alliance for Hispanic Health sponsors this helpline to offer Hispanic
consumers free, reliable and confidential health information in Spanish and
English and help navigate callers through the health system.
