HHS HealthBeat (January 4, 2012)

Safe kids’ activities

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Getting kids to be physically active is important, because many don’t get the 60 minutes of activity they need each day. But so is keeping them safe.

With that in mind, researcher Keshia Pollack of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reviewed what’s being done – and should be done – for safety’s sake. These include things like encouraging kids to walk to school, and installing speed humps to slow cars along the route.

Pollack says parents have other ways to reduce kids’ injury risks:

``It’s important to be aware of those risks – to be aware of the types of activity kids should engage in, and also to be aware of how to keep them safe.’’  (7 seconds)

The study in the journal Health and Place was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: January 4, 2012