Preventing child fatalities in Arizona

In the mid-1990s, the state legislature set up the Arizona Child Fatality Review Program. The program evaluated every child’s death and provided evidence-based policy recommendations to prevent further child deaths.

Will Humble, executive director at the Arizona Public Health Association, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss this year’s report.

The main goal of the program is to reduce child deaths in Arizona by conducting reviews of all children’s deaths throughout the state. These comprehensive reviews are conducted to figure out what steps could have been taken, if any, to prevent each child’s death.

Among the notable findings in this year’s report: firearm-related deaths among children have surged by 171% over the past decade; among children aged 1 to 4 years, drowning was the leading cause of death; among children aged 5 to 14 years, motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of death; among children aged 15 to 17, firearm injury was the leading cause of death.

“Adolescents minds, their brains are not fully formed, they are more impulsive than they would be when they are adults,” Humble said. “The key takeaway here is…if you have a weapon in the house, secure it.”

The report recommendations include: educating parents on safe sleeping environments; ensuring proper firearm storage by making gun owners legally, civilly and criminally responsible; requiring children younger than 13 to be in the rear seats of a vehicle; promoting child safety seats; encouraging women to avoid using substances while pregnant; increasing the availability of affordable health insurance.

“There will be bills this legislative session that will have a child access prevention law in it,” Humble said. “Look, you have a firearm in your house…secure it properly, treat it with the respect that it’s due, and if you don’t, here are the consequences.”