News and notes
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
New Zealand’s New Plymouth injury Safe (NPiS) has appointed Channa Perry to the role of program manager for New Plymouth’s World Health Organization Safe Community Program. Channa brings a wealth of experience in working for a range of primary care and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in England, both at a strategic level and in community development and health promotion. She recently completed her MSc in public health, and has previously led the development of the Health of Older People Strategy at Taranaki District Health Board New Plymouth, New Zealand.
COCHRANE REVIEW OF HOME SAFETY
A new Cochrane review, Home safety education and provision of safety equipment for injury prevention, has been published (Kendrick D, Coupland C, Mulvaney et al). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, CD005014. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005014.pub2). Eighty studies were included in the review. The authors concluded that home safety education, provided most commonly as one-to-one, face-to-face education, in a clinical setting or at home, especially with the provision of safety equipment, is effective in increasing a range of safety practices. There is a lack of evidence regarding its impact on child injury rates. There was no consistent evidence that home safety education, with or without the provision of safety equipment, was less effective in those at greater risk of injury (the review can be accessed at http://www.tinyurl.com/yoeurk).
UNICEF REPORT COMPARES COUNTRIES
A report from the Unicef Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, Italy, Child poverty in perspective: an overview of child well-being in rich countries, compared Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries using six measures, one of which included safety. The report notes that four countries—Sweden, the UK, The Netherlands and Italy—have reduced the incidence of deaths from accidents and injuries to the remarkably low level of <10 per 100 000. Of the other OECD countries, all except two record rates of <20 per 100 …
