Closing the Gap between Injury Prevention Research and Community Safety Promotion Practice: Revisiting the Public Health Model

Abstract

[Extract] Injury is one of the most underrecognized public health problems in the world, with nearly 16,000 people dying from injuries each day. Together, unintentional injury and violence cause more than five million deaths per year, or 9% of the total global mortality—as many deaths as those caused by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. Injury and violence account for eight of the 15 leading causes of death: road traffic injuries, suicides, homicides, drowning, burns, war injuries, poisonings, and falls.¹ These alarming statistics are all the more tragic because injury is preventable.