Annual report 2009-2010, NT Child Deaths Review and Prevention Committee
NT Child Deaths Review and Prevention Committee annual report 2009-2010
Office of the Children's Commissioner Northern Territory
E-Publications; PublicationNT; E-Books; The Children's Commissioner Northern Territory annual report; Annual reports
2010
Date:2010; Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
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Children, Aboriginal Australian; Northern Territory; Periodicals; Death; Causes; Statistics; Periodicals; Children and death; Periodicals
Northern Territory Government
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The Children's Commissioner Northern Territory annual report; Annual reports
2009-2010
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Northern Territory Government
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/236802
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/640686
Page 38 which can also be attributed to the number of deaths occurring from congenital malformations. The decrease in child deaths relating to external causes in 2009 as shown in Table 10 is the result of the absence of any intentional self-harm events in 2009. There is no specific action or targeted Government program that can be attributed to having caused this large decrease other than a random anomaly has occurred, or there may have been an increase in deaths of this type in the age categories above the age of a child of 17 years. Alternatively, there maybe outstanding deaths of this type still before the Territory Coroner. The ill-defined symptoms and signs grouping is quite large as there are a number of child deaths, particularly in 2009, that have not yet been determined by the Territory Coroner, therefore their cause of death remains un-coded. This grouping also includes Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) deaths. Figure 10: NT Underlying Causes of Infant Deaths by Classification Grouping 20062009 Aggregate 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Circulatory System Congenital Malformations External Causes Ill-defined Symptoms and Signs Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Perinatal Conditions Respiratory System N um be r of D e at hs 2006 - 2009 Table 11: NT Underlying Causes of Infant Deaths by Classification Grouping 20062009 Aggregate 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total Circulatory System 1 3 4 Congenital Malformations 6 5 4 4 19 External Causes 1 2 1 4 Ill-defined Symptoms and Signs 7 1 5 6 19 Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 1 2 1 4 Perinatal Conditions 15 19 16 15 65 Respiratory System 1 1 2 Total 30 32 29 26 117 As previously noted the most prominent causes of death for infants are Perinatal Conditions and Congenital Malformations, which are consistent with the national infant UCOD occurrences. Further breakdown of the Circulatory System shows that four (three infants and one child in the 1-4 age group, Appendix 2) of these nine deaths were due to Myocarditis all occurring in 2007. This particular condition is quite rare in infants and younger children.