Between 27 and 35 children were killed by different accidents every day, reported Deputy Head of the Children Department Nguyen Trong An of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.
An told a summit on child injury prevention, the first of its kind so Far in Viet Nam, that a majority of child injuries were caused by traffic accidents, drowning and land mines.
Domestic and school-related accidents such as burns, electrocuting and Toy swallowing have also been on the rise.
Recently, there have appeared metal injuries among children.
The event, co-sponsored by the National Assembly Committee for Youth And Children Culture and Education Committee (CYCCEC) and the Child Injury Prevention Programme funded by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), aimed to raise public awareness about child injuries and call for concerted efforts to mitigate avoidable accidents for children.
CYCCEC Chairman Dao Trong Thi called on law makers to focus on policies regarding injury control in general and for children in particular.
Deputy UNICEF Resident Representative Maniza Zaman Cespedes pledged priorities given to child injury prevention.
Efforts should be made to strengthen the relevant legal system, speed up executing national policies to this regard and build up a safe community, first of all against drowning which is considered a most brutal child killer among injuries, said the child expert.-
Source:
Vietnamese News Agency (VNA)
Hanoi, February 27, 2008 Wednesday
