EUPHA section on Injury prevention and safety promotion

 

President
Johan Lund, MSc, PhD
University of Oslo,
PO Box 1130 Blindern,
NO-0318 Oslo, Norway
E: johan.lund@medisin.uio.no

Vice presidents
Lucie Laflamme, Professor
Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences
Karolinska Institutet
Division of Global Health
Nobels väg 9
SE 171 77 Stockholm
Sweden
E: Lucie.laflamme@ki.se

Mathilde Sengölge, MPH
Austrian Safety Board
Schleiergasse 18
Vienna, Austria
E: msengoelge@hotmail.com

This section was established in 2006 and currently has 330 members, with over 28 countries in Europe represented and 19 countries outside of Europe. 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 researchers,
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 aims to:

• 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.
• Disseminate knowledge on 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.
• Stimulate the 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 Commission’s initiative to have a Communication on “Actions for a Safer Europe” and in a proposal for a “Council Recommendation on the prevention of injuries and the promotion of safety”. Both documents have been adopted by the Commission in June 2006. There also exists the World Health Organization European Region’s Resolution on Injury Prevention in the Region (RC55/R9).

Here is a highlight of our activities to date since our start in 2006:

• Section membership continually rising
• Participation in the annual EUPHA Conferences with workshops in collaboration with other sections and section meetings
• Organised three Pre-Conferences: in 2007 Conference in collaboration with the Section on Mental Health which addressed the impact of intentional and unintentional injuries on physical and mental health, in 2008 with the Section on Child and Adolescent Health and 2009 on injury and alcohol
• Disseminate a quarterly Section Newsletter to inform members of activities and issues of interest
• Participation in consultative meetings with the European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (Eurosafe) on forming a policy statement on alcohol and injury
• Participating in discussions on mapping and understanding the health gap between East and West of Europe as part of an EU project.

We hope you will join the Section and look forward to your contacting us (see email addresses above)!