By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: More than 40,000 children aged up to 14 suffer injuries every year in Qatar and 85 percent of accidents occur at home, according to statistics by Kulluna, a national health and safety campaign.
Such incidents are preventable and Kulluna campaign is spreading awareness at schools to educate students, teachers and parents on preventing injuries, says Dr Khalid Abdulnoor Saifeldeen, Head of the campaign.
The campaign’s ‘Keeping your children safe at home’ programme has reached several Independent, private and community schools in the past months and would restart creating awareness among students in September.
“Home safety is very important, we have identified that schools are the best place to raise awareness,” said Dr Saifeldeen.
A caravan with a simulated kitchen with equipment visits schools and educate students on how to prevent injuries at home.
Children get injured in six main categories — burns, choking, poisoning, fall, drowning and in cars in the driveway.
Almost 80 percent of injuries at home are fall-related.
About 2,000 children suffer burns at home each year while around 200 serious choking cases are seen at the Emergency Department of Hamad General Hospital every year.
Children under four are at particular risk from chocking which can cause death or serious injuries. More than 500 cases of poisoning in children who have consumed something at home are seen at the department each year.
Most poisoning accidents involve medicine, household products and cosmetics.
Many accidents occur due to lack of adult supervision.
Sometimes children are run over in the driveway of their homes. Children aged one to three are at the most risk.
The campaign advises adults to supervise children when the latter are near cars, prevent children from playing in the driveway and check around the vehicle if children are around.
Drowning is another serious accident which could happen at home, since babies and children can drown in water as deep as only a few inches.
It is advised to ensure that the pool at home is fully fenced with self-latching gate, bathroom doors are fully closed, toilet seats and put down and small inflatable backyard pools, baths and buckets not in use are drained.
The Peninsula
