Violent child deaths 'fall by 40 per cent'
Violent child deaths 'fall by 40 per cent'
Also In The News
|
By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 04, Feb 2010 02:55
The number of children dying from a violent death in England and Wales has fallen by almost 40 per cent in the past 30 years, a new study has found.
According to the report by academics at Bournemouth University the annual number of children killed under the age of 14 fell from 136 to 84.
The figure is the forth lowest in the western world. The United States - with 47 deaths per million - and Germany - with 21 deaths per million - have the highest rates.
The study said there were a variety of reasons behind the drop including improved monitoring by social workers, and better liaisons between health visitors and paediatricians, as well as GPs and police.
The report of the study was shown to the BBC before publication later this year. It shows that between 1974 and 2006, the annual number of violent deaths fell by 38 per cent from 136 to 84.
As a proportion of the child population the death rate nearly halved from 32 to 17 per million children.
Professor Colin Pritchard, from Bournemouth University's school of health and social care, said:"Thirty years ago, England and Wales were the third or fourth highest child killers in the Western world, but we're now fourth lowest. There's been a gradual decline in these terrible events."
Explaining how high profile violent deaths such as that of Baby Peter can still happen Prof Pritchard added:"When these things go wrong it is very often because the usual good working-together has actually broken down."
The study examined nine other major developed countries, with most showing similar reductions.
Spain had the lowest violent death rate, at four deaths per million children, with Italy on five.