Citation

Razzak JA, Khan UR, Zia N, Azam I. Arch. Dis. Child. 2013; 98(11): 867-871.

Affiliation

Department of Emergency Medicine, The Aga Khan University, , Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/archdischild-2013-303654

PMID

23956258

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Globally, more than 875 000 children under the age of 18 die due to injury every year. The rate of child injury death is 3.4 times higher in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.

OBJECTIVES: To study injury mortality burden among children under the age of 5 in Pakistan. METHODS: Demographic and Health Survey in Pakistan was conducted from September 2006 until February 2007. It included 95 000 households, out of which 3232 households had death of a child under the age of 5 from January 2005 onwards. The Child Verbal Autopsy Questionnaire (CVAQ) was administered to these households with a response rate of 96%.

RESULTS: For age group 0-5 years, injury was the sixth leading cause of death and was responsible for 2.5% of all deaths (n=73). For age group 1-5 years, injury was found to be the third leading cause of death (11%) after diarrhoea (18%) and pneumonia (17%). The overall under fives mortality rate due to injury was estimated at 39.5 per 100 000 per year in Pakistan. Drowning (22%), road traffic injuries (12%), burns (11%) and falls (10%) were the most common types of injury. The mortality rate was twice as high in rural areas (32 per 100 000; 95% CI 18 to 45), compared to the urban areas (15 per 100 000; 95% CI 0.3 to 29).

CONCLUSIONS: Injury is the third leading cause of deaths among children 1-5 in Pakistan. The burden is twice as high in rural areas.

Language: en