A new challenge to child and adolescent survival in urban Africa: an increasing burden of road traffic injuries

OBJECTIVES: To develop an epidemiological profile and present the burden of urban road-traffic injuries (RTI) in children and adolescents in urban Sub-Saharan Africa. METHOD: A systematic review of published and gray literature of children and adolescents < or =19 years old involved in RTI in urban regions in Sub-Saharan Africa from January 1980-December 2003. RESULTS: The mean annual incidence for urban road-traffic injuries was 109.8 per 100,000 children, and males were twice as involved as their female counterparts. Children between 10 to 14 years constitute the most frequent group involved in road crashes (36%) while pedestrians represent an average of 68% of all childhood RTI cases. Twenty Healthy Life Years per 1,000 children and adolescents are being lost annually in the region from RTI. CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need to develop a regional health research agenda to generate an accurate estimate of the burden of road-traffic injuries on children. This is a new challenge for child health and there is a need to raise awareness among policy makers to promote appropriate interventions.