Introduction by Croakey: Globally, about 12,000 people die each day from injuries and violence, with three of the top five causes of death among people aged 5–29 years being injury-related – road traffic injuries, homicide and suicide, according to a new World Health Organization report, Preventing injuries and violence: an overview.
The WHO report was released during the 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, which took place on Kaurna Country in Adelaide, from 27-30 November.
Releasing the report, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said people living in poverty are significantly more likely to suffer an injury than the wealthy.
“The health sector has a major role in addressing these health inequities and in preventing injuries and violence, through collecting data, developing policies, providing services and programming for prevention and care, building capacities, and advocating for greater attention to under-served communities,” he said in a statement.
Resources shared during the conference included:
- Conference abstracts
- The iRAP Star Ratings of NACTO-GDCI’s Global Street Design Guide, a resource for designing safe streets
- A guide from Injury Matters for the media and road safety sector on reporting road traffic accidents
- The Injury Atlas Victoria.
However, Australia’s national injury prevention strategy appears to remain a work in progress, although consultations on the strategy were held in 2020. The most recent document available on the Federal Health Department’s website is ‘The National Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Plan:
2004-2014′.
Meanwhile, a detailed Twitter wrap of the conference fellows below from Dr Amy Peden, an injury prevention researcher and advocate at UNSW, who covered the conference for @WePublicHealth.
Amy Peden tweets:
See previous articles by @WePublicHealth guest tweeters