WHO 10 Facts on Injuries and Violence

1.         Every year injuries due to violence, traffic crashes, burns, falls or drowning are responsible for 9% of all deaths and 16% of all disabilities. The injuries result in tens of millions of hospital emergency room visits and overnight stays. In most societies, people with lower socioeconomic status are at higher risk of injury, suffer greater consequences and benefit less from prevention programmes.

2.         Many more people die from homicide than from attack in a war, and even more die from suicide. In fact, for every death due to war, there are three deaths due to homicide and five deaths due to suicide. However, most violence happens to people behind closed doors and results not in death, but often in years of physical and emotional suffering.

3.         One in five women and one in 10 men report having been sexually abused as children. Sexual abuse contributes to a large number of health consequences that can last a lifetime. These include sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and mental health challenges, such as insomnia, anxiety or depression. There is also a higher probability among sufferers to smoke or abuse alcohol or drugs, behaviours that are known risks for chronic diseases.

4.         Traffic crashes are the number one cause of death for children and youth between ages 10 and 24 years. Other vulnerable road users include older people, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. About 1.2 million people die every year as a result of road traffic crashes - up to 50 million more are injured or disabled.

5.         Every year over 300 000 people die from fire-related burns. Millions more are left with lifelong disabilities and disfigurements from such injuries, and often suffer from resulting stigma. Burns are the only form of injury that kill more women than men. Elevated cooking stoves, smoke detectors, regulation of water heater temperatures and flame resistant children's sleepwear are proven injury prevention techniques.

6.         Violence prevention programmes that target households where the risk for child maltreatment is high train parents in child development, non-violent discipline and problem-solving skills. Parent education - particularly when delivered in such settings as single parent or lower income households - appears to have a wide variety of benefits including reduced risk of child physical abuse.

7.         Every US$1 invested in a motorcycle helmet can save US$32 in medical costs. Other interventions such as seat-belts and child restraints in vehicles, helmets for child cyclists, and enforcement of alcohol and driving limits and speeding laws by authorities could save thousands of lives. Roadway improvements and better on-site emergency response systems could also prevent road crash deaths and reduce strains on overstretched health care facilities.

8.         Seat-belts and child restraints in vehicles are among the "best buys" in public health. Wearing a seat-belt during a crash reduces the risk of being ejected from a vehicle and suffering serious or fatal injury by 40% to 65%. Children who are strapped in age-appropriate restraints are considerably less likely to die in the event of a road traffic crash than those who are unrestrained. Both seat-belts and child restraints are highly cost-efficient.

9.         About 23 000 children die every year as a result of poisoning; hundreds of thousands more accidentally ingest poisonous substances or drugs. Child-resistant closures for poisons could save thousands of these children's lives. Paraffin or kerosene, pesticides or other household products should be stored in special containers that children cannot open. In addition, tablets and other drugs should be placed out of the reach of children in child-proof medicine containers.

10.              Families and relatives of people killed due to injuries often spend years with emotional scars and struggle with complicated legal and administrative procedures in the wake of events. They sometimes feel abandoned by society. Every third Sunday of November is a worldwide day of remembrance for road traffic victims as a sign of support to those dealing with the loss of a family member or friend.