Beterem: Mayoral candidates should run on safety platforms

"I believe that every child has the right to grow up in safety," says Dr. Michal Hemmo-Lotem, a pediatrician.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
playground (photo credit: Courtesy)
playground
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Beterem, the National Center for Child Safety and Health, has called on candidates in all the municipal and local authority elections to put the reduction of child accidents and the establishment of safe environments high on their political platforms. Beterem argues that a major national investment in children's safety will quickly pay for itself in saved lives and reduced costs. Dr. Michal Hemmo-Lotem, the head of the organization, said that 70 percent to 95% of accidents at home, at school and in the neighborhood can be prevented. There are many types of accidents, from road accidents (pedestrian and passenger), to unintentional falls, poisoning, bites, burns, blows, cuts, drowning and suffocation. Many of these accidents occur in the home. The World Health Organization determined in 1989 that the implementation of strategies for preventing accidents and promoting safety is best carried out at the local authority level - an approach to protecting children that has been integrated into global strategies in many parts of the world, including the European Union. "I believe that every child has the right to grow up in safety," said Hemmo-Lotem, a pediatrician. Addressing mayoral candidates in the upcoming elections, she wrote, "safety themes are vital in your campaign as part of your future commitments. Mayors have a responsibility for children's lives and health, and they must work to promote safe environments and prevent them from being harmed in accidents." A recent Beterem survey shows that three-quarters of those queried believe that the primary responsibility for ensuring safety in children resides with the municipality or local authority. The survey of a representative sample of 503 parents of children under the age of 15 found that 44% of them have not noticed improvements in child safety in their city or town in recent years; a nearly equal share said there had been improvements, and seven percent said the situation had gotten worse. Beterem advocates the opening of safe bicycle paths, information campaigns, safer school buses, improved community policing and clearer street crossings. Of the more than two million children (through age 18) in the country, half suffer some kind of accident each year. Some 180,000 are brought to emergency rooms, 20,000 are admitted to hospital wards and 200 die due to accidents. In addition, many incidents are treated at home and not reported. Every year, nearly 200 Israeli children die in accidents, 24,000 are hospitalized and 185,000 are taken to hospital emergency rooms. Forty one percent of the children who die in accidents are Arabs, as are 38% of those who hospitalized due to accidents. In one year, there are 12.3 deaths by accident per 100,000 children in the Arab sector compared to 4.5 in the Jewish sector. Those Arab children who are hospitalized tend to suffer more severe injuries than their Jewish counterparts. The most common injuries among Arab children are burns (36.1%), falls (28.5%), traumatic injuries (13.2%) and cuts (12.3%). Burns are most common among children under the age of two. In recent years, there has been an increase in the prevalence of injury due to falls (as from the roof or in stairwells). Arab boys under two are also most at risk for inhaling foreign objects into their tracheas. In an average year, 25 Arab children up to the age of nine are killed by vehicles, most of them pedestrians. Some of these incidents involved vehicles that were reversed carelessly. Accidents are also more common in haredi families, which are usually large. Boys are at significantly higher risk than girls (eight cases per 100,000 compared to five for girls), while deaths among non-Jewish children are twice as high (10 per 100,000) as in the Jewish sector. Accidents at home and during leisure time constitute over 90% of the causes of hospitalizations for accidents of children up to age four.