Fire was the third most common cause, accounting for 4% of female deaths. Drowning accounted for 5% of male and 2% of female deaths.
Accidents, violence and suicides are the biggest killers of youths between 10 and 24 years, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report. The report on global patterns of mortality among youngsters concluded that accidents, violence and suicide accounted for almost 80% of deaths in both sexes. More than a third of deaths occured in southeast Asia, followed by Africa.
Globally, accidents were the largest contributor in all age-groups, causing 14% of male and 5% of female deaths. Twelve per cent of males and 9% of females died due to violence. Suicide caused 6% of deaths in both the sexes.
Fire was the third most common cause, accounting for 4% of female deaths. Drowning accounted for 5% of male and 2% of female deaths. Eleven per cent of deaths were due to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Cardiovascular-diseases accounted for 6% of all deaths in 10-24-year-olds while 5% of deaths were due to cancer. Another 5% deaths were attributed to neuro-psychiatric disorders and epilepsy.
Acknowledging road accidents as a main cause of mortality, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government will soon formulate an accident-control policy to minimise them and provide quick aid to victims. Trauma centres have been set up on highways in some states. “We plan to expand it across the country,” Azad said.
The WHO analysis was based on data from the 2004 Global Burden of Disease Study, and all-cause mortality estimates developed for the 2006 World Health Report. People aged 10-24 years consist of around 30% of the world’s population.
India was grouped along with Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, Indonesia, Maldives, Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste as lower income/middle income countries of South East Asia region.
In high-income countries, traffic accidents caused 32% of deaths in males aged 10-24 years. Violence and suicide accounted for 10% and 15% of male mortality, respectively. It was found that young adults had higher rates of death due to traffic accidents, suicide, and violence than the young adolescents. In females, traffic accidents (27%) and suicide (12%) were the main causes of death.
In low-income and middle-income countries like India, violence and traffic accidents were most prominent in males, and suicide and fire-related deaths in females of. However, here the mortality among males was also largely due to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, while in females due to maternal causes.
Mortality related to cardiovascular, epilepsy and diabetes was also higher in low-income and middle-income countries. In southeast countries like India, the number of injury deaths in young women, particularly from fire-related death and suicide, was quite high.
The WHO report said studies conducted in India have attributed these deaths to suicide and accidents, but the role of violence from family members was important in many cases. It suggested that restricted access to pesticides in rural India can probably be an important element in preventing suicides in the country.
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