The continuing global challenge of injury

The UK is lagging behind

News p 1561

At the start of the 21st century injury prevention in most countries (including industrialised ones) is poorly targeted, inadequately funded, and seldom evaluated. Too many people—particularly children—continue to die or suffer unnecessarily. Unsurprisingly, the impact of this public health failure on health services is colossal: in the United States, for example, injuries were first out of 29 conditions ranked according to hospital days in 1994.1 The lack of interest in injury prevention is puzzling as there is evidence that when governments act much can be done to prevent this leading cause of premature death and disability.

Part of the problem is inadequate information on which to estimate the incidence and outcomes of most forms of injury. We know too little about the underlying causes, incidence, prevalence, long term consequences, and costs of injury. Most of what we do know relates to mortality. Of the 50.5 million deaths worldwide in 1990, 10% were due to injury,2 and such deaths are projected to increase from 5.1 million in 1990 to 8.4 …