Child supervision practices for drowning prevention in rural Bangladesh: A pilot study of supervision tools
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
7-1-2010
Journal
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Volume
64
Issue
7
DOI
10.1136/jech.2008.080903
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.
APA Citation
Callaghan, J., Hyder, A., Khan, R., Blum, L., Arifeen, S., & Baqui, A. (2010). Child supervision practices for drowning prevention in rural Bangladesh: A pilot study of supervision tools. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 64 (7). http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.2008.080903