Every two weeks, a child younger than five dies in a home accident that can be prevented, show data for 2014 of the Health Management Center of the Ministry of Health. Last year, six children under five were daily hospitalized as a result of such accidents. The data were presented in a training seminar for journalists, held within the national awareness-raising campaign “A Danger-Free Home for your Child!”, carried out by REPEMOL, IPN reports.
Natalia Dinu, communication consultant within the project, said the about 40 children under five died because of injury, poisoning, suffocation, choking and in road accidents. Over 2 000 children needed emergency medical assistance as a result of poisonings and different traumas. “The children look at the adults’ world with curious eyes. For them, such dangers as the fire and water are captivating. Only the grownups know the dangers and thus bear enormous responsibility for the life and health of children,” she stated.
The life and health of the child is daily in danger when the parents or other members of the family make simple gestures that can have serious consequences. For example, they leave the cup with tea or coffee on the edge of the table, prepare food or iron with the small child in the arms. The adults can also leave the detergents within the children’s reach or can leave the window open when the child is in the room alone. Dangers often appear when the child is left alone in the bathtub or is allowed to play outside unsupervised.
Specialists warn the parents to be cautious and not to leave the children unsupervised at least for a moment, Information about how to protect the child in different situations is available at www.parinti.md, launched within the REPEMOL (Regionalization of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Service in Moldova) Project. During six years, the project, in cooperation with the authorities, have informed the parents about measures that they must take to prevent home accidents involving children under five within the campaign “A Danger-Free Home for your Child!”.
