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Injury and Violence Prevention and Control Programs in State and Local Health Departments

Policy Date: 1/1/1999
Policy Number: 9927

The American Public Health Association,
Observing that deaths from unintentional and intentional injury are the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1-34 years, and are the leading cause of years of life lost prior to age 75;1-5 and
Realizing that the societal costs of injury-related morbidity and mortality were estimated at $260 billion in FY 1995;2,3 and
Noting that the systematic federal, state, and local public health response to motor vehicle safety issues resulted in a substantial reduction in deaths attributed to motor vehicle crashes in the US;6-8 and
Acknowledging that injury rates from specific causes vary substantially among states and within regions of states;9-14 and
Recognizing that state and local injury surveillance is needed to better reflect details of local conditions and to assist in establishing program priorities and evaluating the impact of interventions;2,3,15 and
Recognizing the importance of state and local injury and violence prevention and control intervention implementation and evaluation;16-23 and
Observing that more than half of the states do not have a core injury and violence prevention program; and
Acknowledging that the Institute of Medicine recommends strengthening state infrastructure by development of core injury prevention programs in each state's department of health;2 and
Observing that the Institute of Medicine recommends that support for strengthening state infrastructure in injury prevention should be provided by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control in collaboration with state and local governments;2 and
Noting that the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control's Advisory Committee recommends a level of core funding for injury and violence prevention;24 and
Building upon earlier APHA resolutions 8809: Injury Control Programs in State and Local Health Departments; 8717: Public Health Support of Injury Prevention and Control; 7321(PP): Injury Control and Emergency Health Services; and 5902: Full-time Direction of Accident Prevention Programs in State Health Departments; therefore
1. Urges collaboration with the State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors' Association and the APHA Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section, to develop information that will be useful in educating governors and state legislators about the problem of injury and the importance of state-based interventions;
2. Urges collaboration with National Council of State Legislatures and the National Governor's Association to bring the issue of injury forward on the legislative and programmatic agendas of the states;
3. Advocates for increased funding for the National Center for Injury Control and Prevention that is targeted toward the establishment and maintenance of state-based initiatives in injury control;
4. Urges governors and state legislators to direct state and local health departments to establish injury and violence prevention and control programs that focus on surveillance; program design, implementation and evaluation; coordination and collaboration; technical support and training; and public policy;
5. Encourages governors and state legislators to allocate additional appropriations to state and local health departments for injury and violence prevention and control;
6. Encourages schools of public health, medicine, dentistry, optometry, engineering, and other appropriate schools to establish or expand research and training programs in injury and violence prevention and control, and urges federal and state governments to allocate funding for such programs; and
7. Encourages the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration to work with state and local health agencies to further the development of injury and violence prevention and control programs through expanding available resources including core funding and technical assistance.

References


  1. Centers for Disease Control: Years of potential life lost before age 65-United States. MMWR. 1991;40:60-62.

  2. Committee on Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine: Reducing the Burden of Injury: Advancing Prevention and Treatment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999.

  3. Rockett IRH. Injury and violence: A public health perspective. Pop Bulletin. 1998;53(4):1-40.

  4. Waller JA. Reflections on a half century of injury control. Am J Publ Health. 1994;84(4): 664-670.

  5. Committee on Trauma Research, National Research Council and Institute of Medicine: Injury in America: A Continuing Public Health Problem. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1985.

  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Achievements in public health, 1900-1999 Motor-vehicle safety: A 20th century public health achievement. MMWR. 1999;48:369-374.

  7. Rivara FP, Thompson DC, Beahler C, Mackenzie E. Systematic reviews of strategies to prevent motor vehicle injuries. Am J Prev Med. 1999;16(1S):1-5.

  8. Rivara FP, Grossman DC, Cummings P. Medical progress: Injury prevention (second of two parts). N Engl J Med. 1997; 337(9):613-618.

  9. Christoffel T, Gallagher SS: Injury Prevention and Public Health: Practical Knowledge, Skills, and Strategies. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers, Inc., 1999.

  10. Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section Data Committee: How State are Collecting and Using Cause of Injury Data. San Francisco, CA: American Public Health Association and the Trauma Foundation/San Francisco Injury Center, 1998.

  11. Robertson LS: Injury Epidemiology: Research and Control Strategies (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

  12. Weiss HB, Mathers LJ, Forjuoh SN, Kinnane JM. Child and Adolescent Emergency Department Visit Databook. Pittsburgh, PA: Center for Violence and Injury Control, Allegheny University of Health Sciences, 1997.

  13. Baker SP, Fingerhut LA, Higgins L, Chen LH, Braver ER. Injury to Children and Teenagers: State-by-State Mortality Facts. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, 1996.

  14. Baker SP, O'Neill B, Ginsburg MJ: The Injury Fact Book (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

  15. Bergmann AB: Political Approaches to Injury Control at the State Level. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1992.

  16. State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors' Association (STIPDA): Safe states: five components of a model state injury prevention program and three phases of program development. Marietta, GA, October 1997.

  17. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Health United States 1996-1997 and Injury Chartbook. Washington, DC:US Government Printing Office, July 1997 (DHHS publication PHS 97-1232).

  18. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Safe communities: It wouldn't hurt to live in a safe community (National Kick-off). March 1996.

  19. Rosenberg ML, Vision for the future: A safe America. Fourth Annual STIPDA Conference, Atlanta, GA, 1996.

  20. US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Commitment, communication, cooperation: traffic safety and public health working together to prevent traffic injury. DOT HS 807 962, March 1993.

  21. The National Committee for Injury Prevention and Control. Injury Prevention: Meeting the Challenge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, p.7.

  22. Institute of Medicine, The Future of Public Health. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988, pp. 48-49, 77.

  23. American Public Health Association, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, National Association of County Health Officials, US Conference of Local Health Officials, Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Model standards: A guide for community preventive health services. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association. 1985.

  24. US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Advisory Committee, Science and Program Review Work Group: Resources needed to develop CDC's injury control program: a report of the special working group to examine resources needed to develop CDC's injury control program over the next decade. CDC, November 1995.

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