This paper reports on the status of New Zealand’s child and adolescent unintentional injury prevention. The study authors applied 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) to New Zealand’s injury prevention position, in relation to 12 injury topics covered by 102 questions. The results were considered by a panel of child and adolescent injury experts, who agreed on scores for each item. The 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. The study notes that New Zealand lacks a robust home visiting programme and injury prevention strategies with specific child and adolescent targets.
