Injury surveillance.

Abstract

Mortality data from 2000 indicate that approximately 5.1 million people die annually as a result of some form of injury. This number is small compared with the number of survivors of injuries, many of whom suffer life-long health consequences. Traffic injuries comprise 25% of all injury fatalities. Globally, each year more than 20 million people are injured or disabled and more than one million are killed due to road traffic crashes alone. Developing countries account for more than 85% of all fatalities and more than 90% of disability adjusted life years lost due to road traffic crashes. While information systems to monitor fatal and non-fatal injuries exist in many developed countries, little is known about the extent of these injuries in developing countries. Adequate data about types of injuries and their causes is vital to understanding the global injury problem. Injury surveillance is a crucial first step for reducing the burden of injury worldwide and is especially necessary to accurately characterise the magnitude of the road traffic injury problem in lowand middle-income countries. To address the need for improved injury surveillance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with experts from around the globe, have published a manual entitled Injury Surveillance Guidelines. This manual will help readers design, establish and maintain injury surveillance systems that fit the unique needs and circumstances of their own settings and also satisfy the needs of others for data that can be aggregated and compared. The guidelines are designed to be particularly useful in settings where there may be severe constraints on the capacity to develop and sustain an injury surveillance system. Road traffic injuries is one of the areas where the need for quality surveillance systems is the greatest. The guidelines