Abstract
BackgroundPhysical trauma is an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in Africa. There are however, few community-based reports on the subject on the continent. The present study was conducted to explore school children's experience of physical trauma in a disadvantaged periurban area of Blantyre, in Malawi.MethodsA cross sectional questionnaire study was carried out among school children in Ndirande-Blantyre, Malawi in 2004. Data were obtained to describe the following aspects of trauma experience: being a victim or observer of motor vehicular accidents involving pedestrians; history of falls from heights; and knowledge about road safety. Sex differences were determined for some of the variables in order to gain insights as to whether there is a difference in trauma experience between boys and girls.ResultsA total of 217 school children, 99 (45.6%) boys and 118 (54.4%) girls participated in the study. Eight of them reported to have ever been hit by a motor vehicle, 87 (40.1%) had witnessed a road accident where a pedestrian had been hit and 83 (38.2%) had witnessed a pedestrian they knew having been hit by a motor vehicle. Of those that reported to have ever been hit by motor vehicle, 2 (25%) reported that they had been hospitalized as a result of injury. With regard to falling from heights, 86 reported to have ever fallen from tree, 44 of these (51.2%) were injured from the fall and 14 (16.3%) were hospitalized as a result of injury sustained from the fall. Girls were more likely to fall from trees and getting injured as compared to males (p = 0.04 for both situations). Just under half (41.9%) of the study participants were able to report the correct procedure of crossing the road despite the fact that the majority (80%) reported having been taught road safety at home or school.ConclusionMany school children in Blantyre, Malawi have been exposed to trauma either involving themselves or someone they observed. Prevention, including education, supervision and management of trauma must receive the necessary attention they deserve in terms of resources, surveillance and impact mitigation.
Highlights
Physical trauma is an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in Africa
The school children were given a questionnaire to complete and it comprised the following issues; whether they had ever fallen from a tree, fallen from tree and got injured, ever been admitted in hospital after falling from tree, ever witnessed a road accident that involved a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, ever witnessed a person they knew hit by motor vehicle, and whether the participant himself or herself had ever been hospitalized because of being hit by a motor vehicle
In order to obtain some idea on whether schools and parents considered road trauma and safety a priority area, we asked whether the school children had ever been taught by parents or teachers at school about road safety, and whether they had ever been tested in an examination about road safety
Summary
Physical trauma is an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in Africa. The present study was conducted to explore school children's experience of physical trauma in a disadvantaged periurban area of Blantyre, in Malawi. Non-fatal injuries occur among 10– 30 million children and adolescents each year [2]. An earlier study by Odero documented that driver alcohol intake was an important contributor to road accidents in that setting [4]. Though in this setting, educated persons with skilled jobs were more likely to be drink-driving than non-educated persons [5], possibly as result of having greater access of disposable income coupled with limited effective intervention to prevent drinkdriving
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