The study was retrospective and descriptive for all paediatric deaths, defined for this study in the UAE as children 0 to 14 years of age, between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2004. All death cases registered during this period were included in the study, except those in which the child’s death was unknown or was not recorded. The source of data included the following largely public-access sources: (1) aggregated unlinked data from both Al-Ain and Tawam hospitals; (2) the Death Certificate Registry of Preventive Medicine; and (3) annual reports of the Preventive Medicine Department, Ministry of Health, UAE. The Death Certificate Registry, which uses the International Classification of Diseases – Revision 10 codes to register the mechanism of injury was used for cause of death for this study (WHO, 1993).