Child supervision practices for drowning prevention in rural Bangladesh: A pilot study of supervision tools

J. A. Callaghan, A. A. Hyder, R. Khan, L. S. Blum, S. Arifeen, A. H. Baqui

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background Injuries are an increasing child health concern and have become a leading cause of child mortality in the 1-4 years age group in many developing countries, including Bangladesh. Methods Household observations during 9 months of a community-based pilot of two supervision tools-a door barrier and a playpen-designed to assess their community acceptability in rural Bangladesh are reported in this article. Results Statistical analysis of 2694 observations revealed that children were directly supervised or protected by a preventive tool in 96% of visits. Households with a supervision tool had a significantly lower proportion of observations with the child unsupervised and unprotected than households without a tool. Families that received a playpen had 6.89 times the odds of using it at the time of the visit than families that received a door barrier. Conclusions Interventions such as the playpen, when introduced to households through community-based programs, are accepted by parents. Field trials are urgently needed to establish the effectiveness of barrier-based interventions at reducing under-five drowning mortality rates in low-income countries like Bangladesh.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)645-647
Number of pages3
JournalJournal of epidemiology and community health
Volume64
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2010

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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