Child and adolescent injury report card: New Zealand 2009

Injury is the leading cause of death of children and adolescents. Among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations, New Zealand has the highest rate of child and adolescent injury death. This study aimed to evaluate the status of New Zealand's child and adolescent unintentional injury prevention.

The methodology of the European Child Safety Alliance Child Safety Report Card (completed for 24 countries in Europe, generating a standardised assessment of child and adolescent injury prevention) was applied to New Zealand's injury prevention position. New Zealand's position with regard to 102 questions (spanning 12 injury topics) was investigated. This information was systematically presented to a panel of child and adolescent injury experts, and agreed scores for each item were derived.

New Zealand's overall score was 33/60. Deficiencies were identified across many injury prevention topics including passenger and driver safety, pedestrian safety, water safety, falls, poisoning, burns/scalds and choking/strangulation. New Zealand lacks a robust home visiting programme and injury prevention strategies with specific child and adolescent targets.

New Zealand has not implemented a number of evidence-based injury prevention policies. The information from this study should be interpreted in conjunction with the epidemiology of child and adolescent injury in New Zealand. The Child Safety Report Card provides a useful methodology to guide a country's child and adolescent injury prevention policy direction.