Childhood Injury Prevention Programme (CHIPP) 20

18 Jun 2005

By Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister Of State For Information, Communications And The Arts And Health

Dr Lam Sian Lian, CEO, Health Promotion Board

Dr Jannie Tay, Chairperson of Childhood Injury Prevention Programme Committee

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning.

I am happy to be here this morning for the launch of the Childhood Injury Prevention Programme (CHIPP) 2005. The programme, CHIPP in short, seeks to educate the public on the prevention of childhood accidental injuries which is the third most common cause of death among children aged one to 15 years in 2004. About 19,000 cases of unintentional childhood injury occur each year in Singapore.

Introduction

When CHIPP was launched last year, the key focus was on home injuries because, contrary to our belief, home is not necessarily the safest place for our children. Most of the injuries among children aged one to 5 years occur in the home. While the education of home safety will continue, CHIPP will be introducing another important aspect of childhood injuries this year. This is accidental injuries that occur when children are playing outside their homes.

According to statistics of patients treated by the NUH Children's Emergency, about 50% of the cases of accidental injuries to children occurred outside of home and during play. The KKH Children's Emergency also made similar observations. Hence, it is essential for parents to be vigilant and help their children prevent accidental injuries while playing outside their homes.

Safety at Play

What do we mean by injuries at play outside the home? Basically, this refers to unstructured or free play at places outside the home environment. These places include outdoor settings such as playgrounds, swimming pools and parks. This year's educational programme will reinforce the importance of child safety at these public places.

Data from the NUH Children's Emergency Department showed that physical injury, including falls, is the most common type of childhood accident accounting for more than 80% of the injury cases seen in 2002. More children aged five to 13 years are injured outside the home setting compared to the younger children aged 5 years and below.

While about 80% of the injuries occurred at home among children aged one to five years, about 80% of injuries sustained by older children aged five to 13 years occurred at settings outside their homes. This difference could possibly be due to the fact that the older group of children spend more time in school and playing outside their homes.

There is also a notable difference between the severity of injuries that occur at home and those that happen outside of it. Injuries sustained at home tend to be less severe, like minor head injuries and simple cuts, while injuries that occur outside the home tend to be more severe, such as fractures and joint dislocations.

Of all the outdoor playground injuries seen in NUH Children's Emergency, 61% were fractures or joint dislocation. Comparatively, of all the home injuries seen, 15% were fractures or joint dislocation. The monkey bar is the main cause of fractures in the playground, accounting for one in two fracture cases that occurred there.

Hence parents and caregivers need to be vigilant in supervising their children when they are playing outside their homes. In addition, they should also educate their school-going children on safety while at play and actively ensure that their children wear suitable protective gear when participating in sports such as soccer, cycling or in-line skating.

Childhood Injury Prevention Programme 2005

Our education effort for 2005 will expand its scope from the community to schools. A new range of educational materials has been developed for this purpose targeting school children and teachers at pre-schools and primary schools. Among the materials are activity booklets, teacher's guides, music videos and exhibition panels.

I would like to thank Dr Jannie Tay, Chairperson of the Childhood Injury Prevention Programme Committee and all her enthusiastic members for their commitment of time, their creativity and hard work towards this worthy project. It is now my pleasure to launch the Childhood Injury Prevention Programme 2005.

Thank you.