At least 345 children were injured in accidents last year, with the number of children falling from buildings increasing by nearly four times over 2019, the Jing Chuan Child Safety Foundation said on Friday.
The foundation analyzed news reports related to child injuries to create an index of major child safety risks, it told a news conference in Taipei.
Of the incidents it found, 57 resulted in death and 288 in injuries, it said.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
Traffic accidents accounted for most of the injuries, with 126 cases, followed by negligence, accounting for 47 cases, it said.
About 60 percent of the accidents involved children younger than six years old, and 80 percent of the accidents could be attributed to carelessness by adults, it said.
The data showed that parents or caregivers should improve their knowledge about childcare and environmental risks, the foundation said.
There were 15 cases of children falling from buildings last year, resulting in eight deaths and seven injuries, up from four cases reported in 2019, it said.
It is possible that the children were looking for their caregivers or playing before falling, foundation chief executive officer Lin Yueh-chin (林月琴) said.
Parents should not leave their children home alone and should install protective structures to prevent injuries, she added.
Caregivers can install safety locks on windows to prevent children from opening them, Lin said.
Parents should also ensure their balcony is safe, and check if furniture has sharp edges that might harm children, she said.
There are only about 160,000 newborns in Taiwan every year, and with the birthrate declining, parents should pay more attention to protecting their children, she said.
Some parents might be too occupied with their smartphones while looking after children, preventing them from avoiding an accident, said Wu Cheng-cheng (吳政澄), a parent attending the news conference.
Another parent, identifying herself only as Nancy, said that she is the mother of three children, and is the only caregiver as her husband is busy with work.
Their apartment is on the ninth floor and her children like to climb on furniture, so she never puts any objects near the windows, Nancy said.
She always reminds her children to stay away from the windows, she added.
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