The UK Daily Mail reported last week that “American children are 60% more likely to die before their 20’s than kids in other wealthy countries.”
But how can that be? For a nation that prides itself on being pioneers in public health and safety, how is it that our youth are not as healthy or safe as they are in most other countries?
In fact; the article pointed out that the US has the worst childhood mortality rate compared to 19 other developed countries with children of all ages dying more often since the 1980s. The main cause of death in American teens was gun violence followed by car accidents.
Drugs are also a huge and growing problem in the United States and it’s not coming from the traditional “recreational” drugs that you might think of. The United States has the highest rate of prescription drug abuse in the World, with 6.2% Per Capita. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids like fentanyl nearly doubled from 2013 to 2014!
So, if drugs and car accidents are the leading killers of American children, why are we not warning parents of known drug and DUI offenders in their neighborhoods? After all, we do that for sex offenders? Why are we not preventing anyone with a drug crime in their history from living near a school, where they have easy access to children? And why are we not warning other countries of their planned travel there, to avoid potential drug trafficking or children abroad from known bad drivers?