Preventing accidents and injuries: For children's right to live safely

Every year, hundreds of thousands of children in Vietnam unfortunately encounter accidents and injuries, causing thousands of them to lose their lives. In Thai Nguyen, although the work of protecting and caring for children is increasingly concerned, reality shows that there are still many lurking dangers, even in children's homes and schools. To ensure children's right to live safely, it is necessary to have the attention and participation of not only families and schools but also the community and society.

The Department of Health and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids surveyed facilities to prepare for swimming lessons for children in Phu Binh district in the summer of 2025.

Alarm from the numbers

According to statistics from the Department of Health Environment Management ( Ministry of Health ), each year, on average, about 370,000 children nationwide have accidents and injuries, of which about 6,600 cases die. Drowning, traffic accidents, falls, burns, poisoning... are the main causes of accidents and injuries in children. This situation occurs mainly in the summer, when children are on school break, lack adult supervision and are not equipped with basic prevention skills.

In Thai Nguyen , from 2020 to June 2025, the whole province recorded 534 children with injuries, of which the number of children dying from drowning still accounted for a fairly high rate.

A case of a child playing with firecrackers and having his hand crushed had to be hospitalized.

Many incidents have become painful warnings, such as the case of two 8th grade students of a school in Song Cong City and a group of friends going to Cong River to play, and when one of them was drowning, some friends came to save him, but both the drowning person and another person died (the incident happened in 2023); the case of a junior high school student in Thai Nguyen City drowning in the school swimming pool in 2024; or the case of two brothers, born in 2019 and 2020 in Phu Binh District, staying at home to look after each other, not knowing what food they ate that caused the younger brother to die, and the older brother also had to go to the National Children's Hospital for emergency treatment (the incident happened at the end of 2024).

“Invisible traps” around children

In reality, there are many cases where children have accidents right in the house where they live. It could be a thermos placed low, within reach; a broken or cracked electrical outlet; a staircase without a handrail or with railings too far apart; a fish tank or pond without a fence; a knife or scissors forgotten to be placed in the right place… All of these can become “traps” that threaten the safety of children.

Ms. CTT, Huong Son town (Phu Binh) said: I often put the electric kettle on the table. That day, while boiling water, my uncle's nephew came to visit and pulled the kettle cord hard, causing the kettle to spill water on him. After receiving first aid, he was taken to the provincial hospital for emergency treatment. But because the burn wound was infected, he had to be transferred to the National Burn Hospital. After more than a month of treatment, he was discharged from the hospital but still had deep scars on his neck and back. I felt extremely guilty for my carelessness. From then on, I no longer dared to be subjective about things that could endanger my family members.

At school, many things can be dangerous if children are not equipped with knowledge and awareness to avoid them. For example, going up and down stairs, if children do not pay attention, walk in a hurry or play around, they can fall; or many students like to slide on the stair railing, climb trees to pick flowers and fruits; going into the bathroom with wet floors, slippery shoes... also pose a risk of falling.

Realizing the key role of education in preventing accidents and injuries, schools in the province have proactively implemented many practical activities to raise awareness and prevention consciousness among students.

Schools coordinate with the police force to organize traffic safety propaganda, which is carried out by many schools in the area during the school year to help students avoid traffic accidents.

Teacher Doan Thi Hong Van, Principal of Huong Son Secondary School, Thai Nguyen City, said: In each school year, the school organizes many activities to prevent accidents and injuries for students. Specifically: Coordinating with the police force to promote traffic safety; integrating drowning prevention content into the curriculum; signing a commitment between the school, family and students. Especially during the summer, the school also supports swimming tickets for students in difficult circumstances; mobilizes physical education teachers to teach swimming for free to students. However, due to limited funding, it cannot be implemented on a large scale.

The key to protecting the right to life

Not only schools, the Youth Union from the province to the grassroots level has always paid attention to and organized many activities to prevent accidents and injuries for children, especially in the summer. In addition to organizing useful summer activities, the Youth Union also organizes free swimming classes, gives out life jackets, and puts up warning signs in deep and dangerous water areas.

This summer alone, all levels of the provincial Youth Union strive to organize at least 30 free swimming classes for children; establish 9 youth volunteer teams to propagate and prevent drowning for children. In particular, the Thai Nguyen Department of Health coordinated with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to implement a drowning prevention project in Phu Binh district, with more than 600 primary and secondary school students receiving free swimming lessons and instruction in self-rescue and indirect drowning rescue skills.

Despite many positive results, the number of children with accidents, injuries and deaths remains high. According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Hieu, Deputy Director of Thai Nguyen Department of Health: We hope that the Party Committee and the government will continue to closely direct and allocate resources for accident and injury prevention so that localities and schools can implement measures to ensure safety and improve skills in preventing and avoiding accidents and injuries for children. The Ministry of Health and other ministries and sectors need to issue additional guidelines for monitoring and handling child accidents and injuries; the education sector needs to strengthen the integration of accident and injury prevention into the main curriculum, organize extracurricular activities, and practice skills; and strengthen close coordination between relevant sectors in the work of preventing and preventing child accidents and injuries.

Preventing accidents and injuries to children is not only the task of one agency or unit, but the responsibility of the whole society. Keeping children safe is keeping the future of the country, a measure of a civilized, humane and sustainable community.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/xa-hoi/202506/phong-chong-tai-nan-thuong-tich-vi-quyen-duoc-song-an-toan-cua-tre-6560fb9/