2nd European Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, 9-10 October 2008

As injury prevention and safety promotion initiatives gain momentum in Europe, the 2nd European Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion will be a milestone opportunity to take stock of these developments and help move actions at European and national levels forward. In this respect, the conference builds on two very important policy papers from the World Health Organization and European Commission: the Who Regional Committee Resolution RC55/R9 and the EU Council Recommendation on the prevention of injuries and the promotion of safety. The implementation of these two policy documents is being supported by a joint project of WHO/Europe and the EC.

The main objective of the conference was to help move the implementation of the EU Council Recommendation forward which was adopted in May 2007.

The Recommendation invites Member States to:

 make better use of existing injury data and develop national injury surveillance and reporting systems;
 set up national plans for injury prevention that include safety promotion in education and professional training.

The conference assisted in this process and in particular helped to facilitate capacity building and the development of national plans for injury prevention and safety promotion by:

 highlighting evidence of successful injury prevention policies and programmes;
 sharing examples of comprehensive injury data collection systems and national safety programmes;
 involving stakeholders from government, civil society, private sector and academia;
 providing European and national networks for safety promotion with opportunities for discussion of the best way to move forward.

EPHA endorses the Declaration on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion in the European Union.

Please click here to access the Declaration.