Fall accidents 5th leading cause of Phl kids’ deaths

MANILA, Philippines - The death of a 14-year-old high school student in Pasig City last Monday who fell from the third floor of her school while taking a “selfie” is a common occurrence among Filipino children.

A survey showed that 138 children, aged 0 to 18 years, die daily due to falls worldwide. This translates to around 50,000 children dying each year due to accidental falls.

Safe Kids Philippines (SKP) said falls count as the fifth leading cause of unintentional deaths of children below 14 years old in the Philippines.

Citing the Safe Kids Worldwide 2013 survey, SKP said the leading cause of mortality of Filipino children is drowning, followed by road accidents.

SKP added that 54 percent of children who died from accidental falls were aged 15 to 19 and 78 percent of them were boys.

Falls were also found to be the leading cause of morbidity and lifelong disability among children.

SKP executive director Jesus dela Fuente said the lack of adult supervision, access to safe play spaces and opportunities; absence of preventive measures such as stair gates, signages and guard rails, and deficiency of impact-absorbing surfaces are contributing to fall accidents.

“When we say it is unintentional, we mean it is an accident which is highly preventable. So these are totally preventable deaths but our children suffer or worse die from it,” Dela Fuente said during the 10th National Safe Week organized by SKP and SM Cares of SM Malls recently.

Dela Fuente added drowning alone in the Philippines kills children more than tuberculosis, malnutrition, diarrhea, cancer or meningitis. At least three children aged 0 to 14 years, die from drowning every day in the country.

He added millions of children require hospital care every year for non-fatal injuries, many of them left with lifelong disabilities.

Organized in 2004, SKP is advocating to make homes, schools, roads and other public places safe for children.