Injury prevention
British Medical Association Board of Science and Education
June 2001
Injuries are a major cause of death and disability in the world today. Each year, nearly 20,000 UK citizens are fatally injured.
This BMA policy report, Injury prevention, presents a comprehensive overview of the current challenges for government in improving injury surveillance and prevention in the UK.
It focuses on people in all age groups and addresses the burden of mortality and morbidity due to injuries from any cause
Introduction
This publication presents new BMA policy on injury prevention, and focuses on people in all age groups and the burden of mortality and morbidity due to injuries from any cause.
For the purpose of the report, ‘injury’ is a broad term covering a multitude of types of health problems each of which have different factors associated with increased risk, and for which different types of interventions are possible.
Intentional injuries include homicide and interpersonal violence, wars and other forms of collective violence, as well as suicide and other forms of self-harm.
Unintentional injuries are typically classified according to the means of their occurrence: poisoning, burns and scalds, drowning, falls or transport-related.
The term ‘accident’ is avoided in the main, in keeping with international practice, as the extent of injuries goes well beyond those caused by accidents alone.
Chapter 2 provides an overview of the scale of the problem and trends of injury over time with both a national and international comparison. The personal factors relating to the individuals involved, environmental factors, socio-economic factors and lifestyle factors as well as other influences are discussed.
Chapter 3 discusses the methods used internationally to measure the economic burden of injury and the national responses to this burden. It addresses the cost effectiveness of injury prevention in relation to the loss of potential healthy life years or disability adjusted life year measures for those affected.
Chapter 4 considers the need for systematic collection, analysis, interpretation and timely dissemination of health data for the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health programmes. The current UK national injury data systems and their weaknesses are discussed in detail.
The specific problems associated with accidents or injuries caused by unintentional influences are considered in chapter 5. Particular reference is given to the need for improvements in the research infrastructure and the development of the academic aspects of injury prevention, together with the need for new approaches from the government and research funding organisations.
The concluding section (chapter 6) outlines current national structures responding to the problem of injury, and draws together the key aspects of injury prevention discussed within the report.
It presents a broad range of recommendations for actions that need to be taken, primarily by government, both at Westminster and through devolution by the National Ministries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in a co-ordinated and structured manner.
The potential benefits that may arise from the possible diversity of approaches used in the devolved ministries should be utilised in order to ascertain the most effective methods of prevention policy.
This BMA policy report presents a comprehensive overview of the current challenges for government, in improving the surveillance and prevention of injury in the UK.
It will be a valuable resource for doctors and all healthcare professionals working in the field of injury prevention, as well as those involved in health policy, transport and environmental issues, fire, policing and crime prevention, and education.
These, together with many other specialities — will find this report a useful resource and a guide to supporting the need for an integrated system of surveillance and injury prevention in the UK. We hope this report will be a useful reference point for their on-going work.
Injury prevention costs £12.95
and can be ordered by emailing orders@bmjbookshop.com
ISBN: 0 7279 1687 4