British Medical Journal article calls for UK investment in injury surveillance

In a recent edition of the British Medical Journal, Graham Kirkwood and Allyson Pollock from the Centre for International Public Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh, call for investment in injury surveillance in the UK. Most injury is avoidable and preventable, but because the UK does not have a comprehensive childhood injury surveillance system, the causes, risk factors, and consequences of childhood injury are unknown. Injury surveillance systems are essential for monitoring injury and risks of injury in order to target appropriate and evidenced based effective injury prevention strategies.

The Audit Commission, Healthcare Commission and the European Child Safety Alliance have all voiced their concerns over the fragmented nature of UK injury policy and the lack of monitoring and surveillance systems. Injury surveillance in the UK is under-resourced and lags behind other European countries.

Part of the problem is that responsibility for children is shared across many sectors and agencies—including the Local Education Authorities, the NHS, and the Health and Safety Executive—with no one integrated injury surveillance system.

Read the full article at

http://www.injuryobservatory.net/documents/PreventingChildhoodInjury_Kirkwood_Pollock.pdf