Saving lives from accidental deaths

As the Children’s Prize approaches its last week, we’d like to highlight our mission of saving lives around the world, including from accidental deaths.

According to CDC data from 2009, accidental deaths including motor vehicle accidents, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fire/burns and falls account for the largest number of child deaths in the United States every year. Motor Vehicle deaths account for the most injury related deaths for children in the United States (4,564). However, children in the state of Florida are more likely to die from suffocation or drowning.

Of the five largest states, Florida has the largest unintentional injury rate 40.3% per 100,000. Although children in the developing world will most likely die of diseases such as pneumonia or diarrhea, and children in the United States will die of injury – both causes are preventable, treatable, and unnecessary.

For children under the age of one, the leading causes of accidental death are:
1. Suffocation
2. Motor vehicle
3. Drowning
4. Poisoning

For children ages one to four years, the leading causes of accidental death are:
1. Motor Vehicle
2. Suffocation
3. Being Struck
4. Poisoning

It is important to note that Florida has the highest unintentional drowning death rate in the US for children ages one to four years old; 15% of all children in the US who drown are from Florida.

Below is an excellent infographic by the CDC: