By Fatou Saho
The country representative of World Health Organization, Dr. Desta A. Tiruneh, has said injuries both unintentional and violence-related take the lives of 4.4 million people around the world each year.
Speaking at the launch of the national trauma and injury plan recently, Dr.Tiruneh mentioned that injuries constitute nearly eight-percent of all the deaths in the world.
He addedt: “For people aged 5 to 10years, 3 of the top 5 causes of death are injury related, namely; road traffic injuries, homicide and suicide. Injuries and violence are also responsible for an estimated 10% of all years lived with disability. Out of the 4.4 million injury-related deaths, unintentional injuries take the lives of over 3 million people every year and violence-related injuries kill 1.25 million people every year. 1 in 3 of these deaths result from road traffic crashes, 1 in 6 from suicide, 1 in 10 from homicide and 1 in 61 from war and conflict. This shows that injuries and trauma are complex phenomenon.”
While he continued addressing the need for such a plan launched at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center, he emphasised: “Establishing high quality, responsive and efficient trauma services is therefore critical. The World Health Organization believes that for all injuries and violence, providing quality emergency care for victims can prevent fatalities, reduce the amount of short-term and long-term disability, and help those affected to cope physically, emotionally, financially and legally with the impact of the injury or violence on their lives”.
