Abstract

The study was conducted in a city south of Manila, Philippines with a .5M population. The local government of Paranaque City, especially the City Health Office lent to Safe Kids Philippines (SKP) support in reaching out to all 16 barangays (villages) to assess the safety of the homes in the lower income communities using the Home Safety Assessment Tool of SKP designed to determine injuries and risks to children at home. Objectives included identifying risks and injuries, commonly overlooked safety practices and precautions in different parts of the house, and collecting basic data on knowledge, practices and attitudes of Filipino households in the prevention of unintentional injury. Health workers were then fielded to the health centers where mothers who were having their children inoculated were interviewed regarding conditions in their homes. Home visits to 10% of 2000 respondents were conducted to validate the answers to the surveys. Based on location and type of injury, results created a profile where households experienced the following injuries within the previous year: 38% falls, 19% cuts, 17% scalds and burns, 15% animal bites, 7% foreign body insertions and choking at 5%. These injuries happened in the following parts of the house: 34% just outside the house, 24% in the living room, 15% in the kitchen, 8% bathroom, 10% bedroom and 9% in the laundry area. Results were submitted to the local government who has adapted the tool and applied this to more respondents. Results are now being used.