ACCIDENTS, at the present time, are one of the principal causes of death, particularly among children. In Canada approximately 1,500 children die each year as the result of accidents, a mortality greater than that due to the 10 acute infectious diseases of childhood combined. During the five year period 1942-46 inclusive, in Canada, accidents stood in eighth place as a cause of death during the first year of life, in third place during the second year, and in first place during each year after infancy up to the fifteenth birthday. During the same period, 21% of the deaths between the first and fifteenth birthdays were due to accidents.
In this age of preventive medicine when our chief purpose as physicians is the prevention of morbidity and mortality, we, as pediatricians, cannot neglect this extremely important phase of child care. In any campaign to reduce the number of accidents, there are three ways in which the physician can play an important part. Firstly, the general public must be made aware of the seriousness of the situation and must be educated in the ways in which they, as citizens and parents, can help to reduce accidents. Secondly, the medical profession, working through its associations and publications, must stimulate all physicians to a concerted effort to reduce the number of accidents. Finally, and most important, the physician must concentrate on an educational program for his own private patients. A few words from the physician who looks after the child will do more to impress parents than will reams of propaganda published by someone unknown to them.
SVEPM 2020 — Resilience and community support in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine Annual Conference, extraordinarily held online
