Public health: prevention of injury and promotion of safety 

 

PURPOSE: to set out a list of recommendations addressed to the Member States on the prevention of injuries and to set out Commission tasks supporting the prevention of injuries as well as the promotion of safety.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Recommendation 2007/C 164/01 on the prevention of injury and the promotion of safety.

CONTENT: the Council adopted a Recommendation on the prevention of injury and the promotion of safety. Every year, about 235 000 citizens of the Community die as a result of an accident or violence. Injuries are, after cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory diseases, the fourth most common cause of death in the Member States. In children, adolescents and young adults accidents and injuries are the leading cause of death.

The Recommendation aims, in particular, to improve the use of existing data as well as the development, where appropriate, of injury surveillance and of reporting mechanisms, with a view to ensuring a coordinated approach across Member States to develop their national policies, including the exchange of best practice.

The priority areas identified are:

• the safety of children and adolescents;
• the safety of elderly citizens;
• the safety of vulnerable road users;
• prevention of sports and leisure injuries;
• prevention of injuries caused by products and services;
• prevention of self-harm;
• prevention of violence, particularly domestic violence against women and children.

Member States should:

• make better use of existing data, develop a national injury surveillance and reporting system in order to provide comparable information, and and assess the needs for introducing additional initiatives on product and service safety and in other areas;
• set up national plans for preventing accidents and injuries;
• ensure that injury prevention and safety promotion be introduced in a systematic way in schools and in training of health and other professionals.

The Recommendation asks the Commission to:

• gather, process and report Community-wide information based on injury surveillance data provided by the Member States;
• facilitate the exchange of information on good practice and disseminate this information to relevant stakeholders;
• support Member States in the inclusion of injury prevention knowledge into the training of health and other professionals;
• carry out Community actions by using the resources provided for in the Community Public Health Programme and successor programmes, the general framework for financing Community actions in support of consumer policy, the Framework Programme for Research and any other relevant Community programmes;
• lastly, carry out an evaluation report four years after the adoption of the Recommendation to determine whether measures proposed are working effectively and to assess the need for further actions.