Injury control activities in Europe

One of the most valuable features at our prior sessions was sharing of information about the current state of injury control activities in different parts of the world. We and the conference have grown too much, however, to do this successfully for all the countries and continents in which ISCAIP members are active. The focus this time will be on activities in Europe, since this is the site of the 4th World Conference. What are the programs in Europe which have been successful in reducing child and adolescent injuries? What have been some of the instructive failures? How much of what has been learned in Europe can be transferred to communities in other countries? Is what works in Stockholm relevant in Kuala Lumpur? In Melbourne?

Current issues in motor vehicle occupant safety for children

In most parts of the world, motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death and disability from trauma among children and adolescents. Great strides have been made in improving occupant protection, but many issues remain. What does the current crisis over the risks of airbag injuries to children in North America mean for the rest of the world? Will our global economy result in these same risks (that is same airbag design) to children riding in cars in Cape Town, Paris, and Delhi? Most infants travel in special child restraint devices, but many are inadequately restrained at age 3, 4, and 5. What changes are needed in product design (both vehicle and restraint devices), legislation and regulation, and education to insure that all children are adequately restrained?

Making regulations work

Abe Bergman, one of the grandfathers of injury control and a practitioner of what he calls “political medicine” for the last three decades, often remarks that getting a law passed or a regulation changed is relatively easy. The difficulty lies in getting it implemented in a way that achieves the desired outcome. Regulation and legislation have become part of the holy trinity of injury control, along with education and product/environmental modification. Why are some regulations effective in accomplishing the goal of reduced morbidity and mortality from injury, while others are ineffective, or even worse, harmful? What are the barriers to implementing injury control regulations? What are some of the successful regulations which have made a difference, and how has this been accomplished? What can we learn which will allow us to apply those same lessons in other communities and to different injury problems?

Intentional injuries: what should be the role of ISCAIP

Our journal, Injury Prevention, and the Society have focused primarily on unintentional injuries to children and adolescents. Nevertheless, intentional injuries are a major cause of death in many countries, in the form of child abuse of infants and young children, suicides of adolescents, and interpersonal violence among youth. Should the journal and ISCAIP expand to include these mechanisms of injury? Are the methods we use to study and prevent unintentional injury readily transferable to adolescent suicide and homicide? Can the journal, given its size, accommodate a whole new set of submissions? Will ISCAIP lose some of its identity by expanding its mission? These and other issues will be discussed in a lively debate between discussants taking the pro position and those arguing the con.

Our hope is that each of us attending the conference will come away with an intriguing idea and the energy to apply it back home. So send us your comments. See you in Amsterdam!