Drownings, child neglect and firearms contributed to an increase in child deaths in Arizona during 2021, marking the highest rate of child deaths in the past 10 years, according to an annual report issued by the state.
The review released earlier this month by the state’s Infant Fatality Review Program said Arizona’s infant mortality rate increased by 4.7% from 51 deaths per 100,000 children in 2020 to 53.4 deaths per 100,000 children. 100,000 children in 2021, reported The Arizona Republic.
A total of 863 children died in Arizona last year, up from 838 the year before.
Nearly half of the deaths last year were preventable, according to the report authors, who based their analysis on reviews of death certificates, autopsy reports, hospital records, police reports and any other relevant documents that provide information about the cause. of the death of a child. death.
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Infant mortality rates in Arizona from drowning and abuse or neglect “increased dramatically” beginning in 2020, the report says. Child drowning doubled from 22 deaths in 2020 to 44 deaths in 2021, with drowning the most common cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, the report says.
Arizona has seen an increase in child deaths during 2021. Deaths from drowning, neglect, abuse, alcohol and drugs have increased compared to previous years.
“We were very surprised to see how many drownings we had. It’s been going down in that category for many years and now it’s back up again. That was very concerning,” said Dr. Mary Ellen Rimsza, a pediatrician who chairs the Arizona Statewide Infant Fatality Team. “It’s very tragic how it can happen so quickly in situations where people have a pool in their backyard.”
There were 128 Arizona children who died from abuse or neglect in 2021, up from 95 such deaths in 2020.
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“Most of them are not abuse. They are neglect. So I think we need to consider what are the situations where neglect occurs,” Rimsza said. “Some of this isn’t willful neglect, it’s neglect because they don’t have money for a place to live, for child care, so they have unsafe child care situations.”
Rimsza noted that substance use played a role in more than half of child abuse or neglect deaths in 2021, a factor that in some cases may have been related to COVID-19. Numerous reports and studies have indicated that drug and alcohol use increased during the pandemic due to, among other things, stress and isolation.
