Safeguarding children: College of Community Physicians and Baby Cheramy join hands

Injuries to children are preventable – and yet every 4 hours, a child dies in Sri Lanka due to an injury, while 50 children die every week and 215 children die every month due to preventable accidents. The Sri Lanka College of Community Physicians and Baby Cheramy have jointly taken on the mantle of highlighting the preventable nature of accidents amongst children through a series of innovative activities. The partnership aims to raise awareness of the dangers that lurk in the environment for children in an attempt to reduce the rising number of accidents.

In Sri Lanka, injuries have been ranked among the first five leading causes of death amongst children, with the leading causes being transport accidents, drowning, falls, burns, and poisoning. The nature of injuries ranges from external injuries, dog bites, fractures, dislocations and so on. 2,713 lives of children were lost due to road accidents in the year 2022. Besides acute morbidity, injured children suffer from long-term disability and chronic pain that limit their ability to perform age-appropriate everyday activities over their lifetime, not to mention the public funds amounting to Rs. 1,100 Mn spent on their medical treatment annually. The 10-14 age group reflects the highest proportion of accidents among children at 47%, followed by the 5-9 year-olds, who account for 19% of total accidents among children.

Dr. Shiromi Maduwage, the President of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka said, “The College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka is pleased to partner with Baby Cheramy, in a collaboration to raise awareness about the importance of injury prevention amongst children, to reduce avoidable disabilities and fatalities. Through this collaboration, we will unveil a series of impactful initiatives dedicated to educating the public on ways to always ensure the safety of children.”