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In recent years, CDC has provided consultation and technical assistance for unintentional injury prevention outside the United States and has worked with public health organizations around the globe to combat injuries and associated deaths and disabilities.
Strategy to Prevent Road Traffic Injuries Worldwide
CDC contributed to the development of a World Health Organization (WHO) five-year strategy to reduce road traffic injuries (RTI) worldwide. RTI killed an estimated 1.2 million people around the globe in 1998, making it the leading cause of injury death. If current trends continue, by 2020, RTI will kill 2.3 million people annually. The five-year strategy aims to integrate RTI-prevention programs into all countries, especially lower- to middle-income countries, which bear the greatest burden of RTI. Specific objectives include building capacity at national and local levels to monitor the magnitude, severity, and impact of RTI; encouraging the incorporation of RTI prevention in public health agendas worldwide; and promoting action-oriented strategies and best practices to prevent motor vehicle crashes.
Peden MM, Krug E, Mohan D, Hyder A, Norton R, MacKay M, et al. Five-year WHO Strategy on Road Traffic Injury Prevention. Geneva (Switzerland): World Health Organization, 2001[cited 1 Sept 2002]. Available at URL:
www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/.
Injury Surveillance Guidelines
CDC worked with the WHO Injury Unit in Geneva to develop guidelines for injury surveillance. The guidelines are available online
from the WHO
website.
International Conference on Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention in Developing Countries
Low-income countries account for 89% of the world’s motor vehicle–related deaths. In April 2001, CDC collaborated with the International Health Division of the Harvard University School of Public Health, WHO, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Center for Child Well Being, and the Volvo Corporation to sponsor an international conference on motor vehicle injury prevention in developing countries. Proceedings of the conference, which attracted teams from 11 low-income countries, will be published in 2003.
International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE)
CDC worked with IUHPE to assess the injury prevention activities of 30 member countries and determine the resources needed to improve these activities. Results from the report will be used to develop a plan of action to promote injury prevention in countries with strong health promotion programs.
International Collaborative on Injury Coding
CDC staff took part in a worldwide collaboration, sponsored by the World Health Organization, to develop the International Classification of External Causes of Injury (ICECI). The ICECI is a surveillance tool for capturing injury data that improves on
previous methods in that it is based on best practices of injury surveillance and on international consensus about how external causes may be described. ICECI helps researchers and prevention practitioners to define more precisely the domain of injuries they are studying, answer questions on the circumstances of the injuries, and provide more detailed information about specific injury categories, like home and recreation injuries or traffic injuries. This comprehensive data dictionary will facilitate international standardization of injury data.
International Technical Assistance
CDC provided injury prevention technical assistance to numerous countries and U.S. territories, including Canada, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, China, Thailand, and Vietnam (see Safe Vietnam Initiative on Page 35).
Safe Vietnam Initiative
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English
translation: "Protect your intelligence." |
In 1996, injuries were the leading cause of death in Vietnam, outranking deaths caused by
infectious disease symptoms such as diarrhea and pneumonia, and chronic conditions such
as hypertension. In 1998, CDC began studying the problem of injury in Vietnam, with the
objective of developing injury prevention strategies that would be useful and effective to the
Vietnamese people. Staff members found that undercounting of injuries and lack of data
standards were two major obstacles to accurately assessing injury rates.
In January 2000, CDC made a long-term commitment to develop the Safe Vietnam initiative
and to work with UNICEF to implement this initiative. CDC also gained financial support for this effort: In response to a CDC proposal, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF pledged $10 million to
support children’s injury prevention activities in Vietnam over the next five years.
Safe Vietnam’s objectives are to reduce injury morbidity and mortality among Vietnamese
children and to integrate injury prevention into all child survival programs in Vietnam. CDC
staff collaborated with the Ministry of Education and Training to develop an injury preven-tion curriculum for primary schools. By March 2002, teachers from 39 provinces had been trained to integrate this curriculum into their environment and health coursework. CDC staff also assisted with door-to-door assessment of injury risks in local villages. Based on these assessments, CDC worked with an advertising agency in Vietnam to develop a television public service announce-ment to promote injury prevention among children. These activities were incorporated into UNICEF’s Country Program plan for 2001–2005.
CDC also supported a UNICEF liaison to the U.S. Embassy and other international agencies to develop Safe Vietnam strategies and activities. The Safe Vietnam initiative has received strong support from U.S. officials, and the “Helmets for Kids” campaign was launched in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2000.
Perhaps most significantly, CDC’s efforts have contributed to national policy change in Vietnam. On December 27, 2001, Vietnam Prime Minister, Phan Van Khai approved and announced a National Policy on Injury Prevention 2002–2010. This policy, which addresses injury prevention on the road, in workplaces and homes, and at schools and public places is designed to reduce injuries in Vietnam by 30% to 40% by the year 2010. The Safe Vietnam initiative has helped Vietnam mobilize policymakers and the population to address the prevention of unintentional injuries, the number one health threat for Vietnamese children.
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