Ko te tūmanako kei te ora koutou – we hope you all are keeping well throughout these spring showers! In this month’s Safety Lit, we’ve conducted a broad search for any health research with a focus on child unintentional injury prevention, well-being, and general health throughout Australia, Aotearoa, and the Pacific region.
Let us know if you and/or your networks have any work / research that you’d like to include in this publication.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Ririki Haumaru
Emerging Child-focussed Research in Aotearoa & the Pacific
Explore four research summaries on Māori postnatal care, pēpi loss, Pacific health equity, and child mental health in LMICs. This collection highlights key gaps, culturally grounded approaches, and pathways to improve outcomes for whānau and communities across Aotearoa and the Pacific.
These four studies highlight the importance of Indigenous-led approaches to health and wellbeing across Australia, the Pacific, and Aotearoa. From codesigning child injury prevention programmes and understanding how maternal education shapes child outcomes, to exploring Indigenous cultural health frameworks and surveying Māori experiences of discrimination, access, and identity, each study reveals both the enduring strengths of Indigenous communities and the persistent inequities they face. Collectively, they emphasise the need for culturally grounded, community-driven solutions, better data, and systemic change to support the wellbeing of tamariki, whānau, and Indigenous peoples globally.
In this edition, we highlight new research helping to keep tamariki safer in and around water. These three articles explore how we can better identify where drowning incidents occur, how maternal education shapes child wellbeing in Pacific communities, and what helps or hinders schools to deliver life-saving water safety education. Together, they point to practical ways to strengthen prevention, equity, and protective skills for our children.
Our featured articles examine the leading causes and long-term impacts of burns in young children, and explore how children interpret chemical hazard warnings to help prevent poisoning and chemical burns at home. Together, these studies highlight the need for clearer safety communication, age-appropriate education, and stronger prevention strategies to protect tamariki in their everyday environments.
Our latest research summaries look at the causes and patterns of fall injuries in children and adolescents. A 10-year review from Ontario highlights the serious burden of fall-related injuries among rangatahi, while an infodemiology study from China uses real-world social media data to better understand how infants and toddlers are falling at home. Together, these insights point to the need for clearer monitoring, targeted prevention, and practical support for whānau to keep tamariki safe in their everyday environments.
