The Epidemiology of Injury in School-Aged Children in the Palestinian Territory

Worldwide, injuries are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in children. However in many parts of the world, especially developing countries, there are scarce data to guide the development of effective interventions and policies to prevent the occurrence of injury in children. Objectives To determine the magnitude, scope and characteristics of child injury in the Palestinian Territory and to identify the factors that associated with the occurrence of injury based on analyzing mortality and morbidity data. Methods Data on injury mortality were obtained from Palestinian Health Information Centre, and Poisson regression was used to estimate the death rate. A large survey of schoolchildren aged 12 to 16 years - Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children- provided data on injury, socio-economic factors, and health behaviour was used to estimate the prevalence of injury morbidity and to investigate the association between these factors and serious injury, using a logistic regression. Key findings Firearm missiles, road traffic crashes, falls and drowning were the leading causes of injury mortality in the Palestinian children. Being a boy, being a child at younger age, riding a bike, reporting of health problems by the children and involving in risky taking behaviours were factors that found to be associated with the occurrence of serious injury. Conclusions Prevention actions in the Palestinian Territory should prioritize reduction in mortality caused by RTCs, falls, firearm missiles and drowning. For injury morbidity, prevention measures should consider action strategies for serious injury at different locations- home, school, street and sport facilities- and different activities - biking, sport activity, walking and fighting.