Campaign launched to quell high rate of accidental deaths

ABU DHABI // A child-safety campaign has been launched by the Emirates Foundation to address the alarming rate of accidental deaths among children in the UAE.

Launched on the sidelines of the Emirates Youth Philanthropy Summit, the UAE National Child Safety Campaign was initiated by volunteers of Sanid, the Emirates Foundation’s National Emergency Response Volunteer Programme.

Sanid volunteers felt compelled to act after seeing statistics citing thousands of UAE child deaths caused by accidents, said Maytha Al Habsi, chief programmes officer at Emirates Foundation.

“It is a shocking and scary statistic when you hear that 45,500 children were exposed to dangerous situations over two years,” she said.

The programme aims to train 3,000 parents, guardians and caretakers, as well as 3,000 children, on the basic skills needed in emergency situations.

“We want to tell the residents that it is the little things that could harm their children,” said Mohamed Al Hosani, director of leadership and empowerment at the foundation.

He said separate training sessions would be held for those over the age of 15 and those below.

The tutorials aim to train parents, caregivers, educators and family members on how to avoid panicking during emergency situations, whom to contact and exactly what to do while waiting for help, said Mr Al Hosani.

Sanid would provide pupils under the age of 15 with a tailored programme.

Games and activities will be utilised to teach children what to do in case of injury.

“For example, rather than tell them not to use electrical appliances, we will show them the correct way to handle them, such as making sure their hands are dry,” said Al Hosani.

Ms Al Habsi said she thought the training should be mandatory for more people and hoped that it would be incorporated in hospitals and workplaces.

“Even before people have children, this is something they should be familiar with,” she said.

Ms Al Habsi said there was strong interest in learning basic techniques that could save children’s lives.

“We had planned for 40 female students to attend in Sharjah and ended up training all 60 who showed up,” she said.

Simple tutorials could help prevent tragedies, said Ms Al Habsi.

“Basic education and home safety could help prevent thousands of avoidable deaths,” she said.

Individuals or organisations wishing to attend trainings or organise sessions for their association can visit Sanid’s website to register or get more information.