WHO calls on cost-effective prevention strategies to address deaths from injuries
Posted Le 22 mars 2021
The WHO (World Health Organization) sent out a news alert March 22 2021 noting that “Deaths from injuries and violence constitute nearly 8% of all deaths globally (4.4 million people). Effective and cost-effective prevention strategies should be more widely implemented”
“Poor people suffer more from injuries and violence because they live, work, play and travel in more precarious conditions and have less access to prevention programmes and emergency trauma care,” noted Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “As we build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the global community understands the value of implementing these proven life-saving strategies.”
These strategies include:
· providing gait and balance training for older people to prevent falls; see WHO-Falls fact sheet https://www.who.int/news-
· setting and enforcing laws to prevent road traffic injures, see WHO safety and mobility…
This WHO news alert is released in the context of the Virtual Showcase, being held from 22-26 March 2021, with the theme developed for Safety 2020 - ‘Innovation, Engagement, Action: for a safer future’
Related Canadian information on falls and injuries can be found in “Slips, trips and falls: Our newest data reveals causes of injury hospitalizations and ER visits in Canada”.
The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal blog post "Help prevent injury by reducing your risk of falling" highlights National Injury Prevention Day of July 6th with statistics on the effects of falls and multiple fall prevention resources.