Preventing intentional injury to children

Preventing intentional injury to children The European Child Safety Alliance, of which DCU is a partner, has published a report today on Member States’ national actions to address child intentional injury, What are European Countries doing to prevent intentional injury to Children?.

The report describes the prevalence of intentional injuries (injuries that are the result of violence) to children in the European Union, including maltreatment, peer to peer violence and self-directed violence, and examines the level of uptake of national level policies to address intentional child injuries in over 25 member states. This is the first time that national actions to address child intentional injury are being comprehensively assessed and reported on in the EU.

Highlighted in the Ireland country report are the following:
• Ireland has the second highest level of deaths by intentional injury in Europe
• Ireland has the second highest rate of suicide in young men
• Ireland has the highest rate of suicide in young women but this rate is less than a third of that in young men
• Very low homicide rates
• In terms of policy, Ireland performs quite well but there are still gaps in implementing a national strategy for peer violence prevention and a national strategy for suicide/self-directed injury prevention.
• There were 600 deaths under the age of 25 in Ireland in 2012: 195 of these were external causes, 101 accidental, 94 intentional or unknown (mostly suicides).

Professor Anthony Staines, Chair of Health Systems at DCU’s School of Nursing & Human Sciences said,

“Our ability to measure intentional harm to children is very limited. Only deaths can be reliably measured in most countries. In Ireland we have a very serious problem with suicide with exceptionally high rates in both young men and young women. We do not have a full range of measures in place to minimise intentional injury in childhood, though we are better in this respect than many other countries. Intentional injury in childhood is often a hidden problem and needs much more attention from Irish and European societies.”

For the full report, click here. Click here to read the Child Intentional Injury Prevention Policy Profile for Ireland.