1. Introduction
Morbidity and mortality resulting from injury remain a considerable
concern. Despite dramatic advances in other areas of clinical
medicine, there is a feeling among some experts that injury prevention
is poorly targeted, inadequately funded and seldom evaluated.1
One area of injury which has been studied extensively and which is
rightly a source of concern relates to intentional injuries inflicted
upon children. Most of the research in this area investigates injuries
inflicted by adults upon children. In contrast, relatively little is
known about the pattern, extent and nature of injuries sustained
by children which have been inflicted during deliberate acts of
aggression by other children. This study aims to address this.