The WHO reports that “in the WHO European Region, road traffic injuries, drowning, poisoning, falls, fires, self-inflicted injuries and interpersonal violence are estimated to kill over 2000 people, put 60 000 others in hospital and necessitate outpatient emergency treatment for 600 000 more every day. But the evidence shows that they can be predicted and prevented”.
The WHO urges a comprehensive public health approach to be adopted in order to reduce the high number of injuries and violence on health:
The higher injury mortality is due to road traffic, inequalities in wealth, lower social capital, poor regulatory mechamisms. Improvement of these factors could attribute to the decrease in injury death.
Countries with best safety practice should share their experience, and national governments should adopt national priorities such as road safety.
Effective injury prevention strategies and safety measures could reduce the healthcare costs.
Higher control and strong monitoring on alcohol use will have also an added value.
Violence should be perceived as a preventable public health problem.
The health sector could play a major role in surveillance, risk factors research, - prevention advocacy, prioritising safety.
The publication can be downloaded free of charge from the WHO website [PDF, 1MB].
