The death of a child under any circumstances is a tragedy. The main focus of this report is on the circumstances and risk factors surrounding the deaths of the children and young people who lost their lives due to external causes of death, including transport incidents, drowning, suicide and non-accidental trauma. These provide the greatest opportunities to prevent future deaths.
The Family and Child Commission Act 2014 requires the Commission to maintain a register of information relating to child deaths in Queensland, and to classify, analyse and report on trends and patterns in child deaths each year. The register maintained by the QFCC contains information about the deaths of all children and young people in Queensland since 1 January 2004.
This report, the 14th in the series, found there were 385 child deaths in 2017–18, a rate of 33.8 per 100 000 children aged 0–17 years. Overall, the rate of deaths of children and young people has been in decline since reporting commenced in 2004, primarily due to a reduction in the number of natural cause deaths from diseases and morbid conditions, and to a lesser extent from decreases in transport fatalities. This year represents the lowest recorded number and annual rate since reporting commenced in 2004–05.