Reducing the incidence of burn injuries to Indigenous Australian children

Kimble, Roy M; Griffin, Bronwyn R

doi:10.5694/mja17.00151

Topics

General medicine

Pediatric medicine

Wounds and injuries

Environment and public health

Indigenous health

Burns are a specific health burden, but understanding the detail is vital to finding solutions

It is undisputed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous Australian) children are over-represented in statistics for injury and death caused by trauma. The incidence of each of the major mechanisms of fatal trauma in Australian children — drowning and low speed vehicle run-overs — is higher among Indigenous children.1,2 Burn injuries are also more prevalent among Indigenous children.3

1 Pegg Leditschke Children's Burns Centre, Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD
2 Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD

Correspondence: royk@uq.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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