title: Falls among children in the developing world: a gap in child health burden estimations?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the incidence and mortality rates for unintentional fall injuries in children under 5 years of age in three developing regions of the world.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a systematic review of literature on unintentional childhood fall injuries. A computerized PUBMED search of literature published between 1980 and 2006 was conducted and a manual search of journals was also completed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 140,000 injuries to children under 19 years were reported in 56 studies (21 from Asia, 20 from Africa and 15 from South America); on an average 36% of injuries (52 575) were due to falls. The median incidence is estimated at 137.5 fall injuries per 100,000 children. The incidence of falls specific to the under-5 age group was reported in 16 studies with a median incidence of 40.6 falls per 100,000. The overall average incidence rate for childhood falls is highest in South America at 1315 followed by Asia at 1036 and Africa at 786 per 100,000, respectively. Average mortality rates were highest for Asia at 27 followed by Africa at 13.2 per 100,000, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review demonstrates that the burden of falls on children has not been well documented, and is most likely under-reported. With the large and growing population of children in developing countries, the public health implications of the observed results are tremendous. Appropriate prevention relies on accurate statistics.
authors: Department of International Health, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. ahyder@jhsph.edu
authors: Adnan A
authors: AA
authors: Hyder
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Sugerman
authors: Shanthi
authors: S
authors: Ameratunga
authors: Jennifer A
authors: JA
authors: Callaghan
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003906:Developing Countries; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male