President
Johan Lund, MSc, PhD
Norwegian Safety Forum
PO Box 24473, Solli,
NO-0202 Oslo, Norway
E: johan.lund@fnh.no

Vice presidents
Lucie Laflamme, Professor
Karolinska Institutet
Department of Public Health Sciences
Division of Social Medicine
Norrbacka, SE 171 76 Stockholm
Sweden
E: Lucie.laflamme@ki.se

Mathilde Sengölge, MPH
Austrian Safety Board
Schleiergasse 18
Vienna, Austria
E: mathilde.sengoelge@kfv.at

This section was established in 2006 and currently has 35 members. The aim of the section is to enhance communication in injury and violence prevention and safety promotion across Europe, including by promoting the dissemination of research results and the exchange of knowledge of evidence based practice in injury and violence. In particular, the section will:
a) increase awareness of injury and violence prevention and safety promotion in the broader public health community,
b) increase the visibility of issues related to injury and violence prevention beyond the community of injury researcher,
c) strengthen the links between researchers, policy makers and practitioners;
d) support the dissemination of research results and their implementation into practice.
In addition, the section will:

• Disseminate knowledge on registration/surveillance methods throughout Europe as well as effective preventive measures (in regard to great variation in injury rates across the European Region).
• Discuss the development and standardisation of injury registration methods in the health care system throughout Europe.
• Study risk factors and their mechanisms of influence as well as identification of effective preventive measures for influencing attitudes, behaviour, structures and culture with regard to injuries and safety.
• Formulate advocacy messages on injury and violence prevention and safety promotion to European and national authorities in order to reduce this heavy burden on the health system in all European countries.
• Exchange views between key stakeholders from the scientific and policy making communities.
• Co-operate with other sections within EUPHA and with other relevant European agencies and stakeholder in injury prevention.

Background information
Injuries (including both unintentional ones and violence) are a major threat to life and health in many parts of the world. In the WHO European region injuries are the third leading cause of death. The region has some of the highest and lowest injury mortality rates in the world. Furthermore, the burden is unequally distributed both between and within countries.

Therefore, the World Health Organization and the European Commission have recognised injury prevention and safety promotion as a major priority and have developed policy frameworks, action plans and public health programmes in order to strengthen injury and violence prevention activities within the region. This has led to the European Commision’s initiative to have a Communication on ‘Actions for a Safer Europe’ which will be presented to the Council of Ministers in 2006 and to the WHO-European Region’s Resolution on Injury Prevention in the Region (RC55/R9).