The center is jointly run by the hospital and Project HOPE - a US-based charity fund, and received a donation of 136,000 yuan (US$16,386) from US-based Corning Corp.

The center will also provide an emergency nursing training program for medical staff to improve their level of skills.

In addition, experts will go to communities, schools, kindergartens to promote child safety.

Childhood mishaps are the No. 1 cause of fatalities among children aged under 14, accounting for 26.1 percent of total children's deaths on the Chinese mainland.

In China, 20,000 children die, and nearly 400,000-500,000 are injured in accidents every year. The number is expected to grow by 7 to 10 percent annually, experts say.

"In our country, child safety has not aroused due attention," said Lily Hsu, nurse educator from Project HOPE. "Though the seriousness of the problem was recognized a decade ago, education on preventing child-hood accidents remains a small part of the emergency chapter in pediatric textbooks."

Most parents don't have proper knowledge on accident prevention and emergency treatment when a child is injured, officials from Shanghai Children's said, citing an incident last week in which a two-year girl choked on jelly and died on way to hospital due to lack of first-aid remedy.

(eastday.com June 22, 2002)