Dubai: A majority of children's deaths in the UAE occur on the roads and health authorities are trying to take steps to bring down this disturbing figure.
Children die in traffic accidents either because they are not strapped in or because motorists do not stop at zebra crossings, doctors and the police said.
Dubai Health Authority (DHA) officials yesterday said that traffic accidents are the leading cause of infant mortality in the UAE and account for 63 per cent of all child deaths.
It signed an agreement yesterday with a leading motor vehicle company to support Dubai's Child Injury Prevention Strategy. The agreement to support the Dubai Strategy was signed between DHA and General Motors yesterday.
The strategy was put in place recently when a study found that besides traffic accidents, the other most common deaths among children are due to drowning, burns and falls from buildings because they are left unsupervised.
It is fairly common to see children sitting on their father's lap while he is driving on high-speed highways, or playing in the back seat. Strapping a child in a proper car seat is mandatory in most developed countries and parents are liable to pay a fine if they do not follow the rules.
Studies here have also shown that injuries among children is 19 per cent higher than the world-wide average.
Car seats
Qadi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of DHA, said in a statement that GM will work with the DHA to train nurses in child car safety at the Al Wasl Hospital.
GM is also donating 500 child car seats to parents of newborn babies.
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0 Responses to 63% of child deaths in UAE were were traffic-related