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The secrets of the National Violent Death Reporting System

Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta, GA, USA

Correspondence to:
Dr J A Mercy
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Mailstop K-68, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA; jam2@cdc.gov

Accepted 3 August 2006

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In public health, as in the rest of our lives, the value and importance of the things we do are not always readily apparent. Sometimes the things we do hold secrets that, once fully revealed, expand our appreciation of their relevance to our goals and aspirations. Such is the case with the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). On the surface, the NVDRS is a data collection system for violent deaths (that is, homicides and suicides) and in that way is similar to many other surveillance systems that we carry out as part of public health practice. But in reality the NVDRS is much more than it might appear.

SECRET 1: THE NVDRS USES THE POWER OF LINKING DATA
The NVDRS makes better use of data that are already being collected by health, law enforcement, and social service agencies.¹ The NVDRS, in fact, does not require the collection of any new data. Instead it links together information that, when kept . . . [Full text of this article]