The incidence of accidents in child care centers of the local government organizations.
OBJECTIVE
To study the incidence of accidents and the environment around the building of child care centers of the local government organizations under the Health Promoting Center 6.


METHODS
This was a descriptive study carried out among 1,871 child care centers of the local government organizations under the Health Promoting Center 6 within eight Northeastern provinces. The self administered questionnaires were handed out in the process of this study and data were collected between January 1 and February 28, 2011.


RESULTS
One thousand eight hundred seventy one child care centers answered the questionnaires. The ratio of children per caregiver was found to be 17:1. In 2010 the incidence of injury in children was 7.17 per 100 persons. Ratio of injury between boys and girls was 1.9:1. The places mostly reported for the accidents were outside the building, the playground instruments, and inside the classrooms. Most child care centers were located on the street side and had no fence near the water sources (pool, pond) and trees. Only 22.9% had children water closets and those with adult water closet provided no support for holding. Most (93.3%) of the toilets had water containers inside.


CONCLUSIONS
Environment around the child care center building may be the cause of many accidents. If the child care centers comply the convention instructions, children will be safe during they stay.
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
Jariya
J
Intraratsamee
Amornrat
A
Ratanasiri
Manop
M
Kanato
D000059:Accidents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012449:Safety; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*