Background Violence and injuries are serious public health problem in Republic of Macedonia. Department for violence and injury control and prevention has been established in the Institute of Public Health of Republic of Macedonia in 2004 as a lead agency in health sector. The main objective is to present the achieved activities in addressing this problem in a period of one decade.

Methods Public health approach has been applied to assess the implementation of effective national policy interventions for violence and injury prevention and WHO Resolution EUR/RC55/R9 implementation.

Results Country responded to a European Council Recommendation of 31 May 2007. Violence and injury were set as priority in the Biannual collaborative agreements signed between the Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation. Specific national policies for road safety and domestic violence prevention have been implemented and amended legislation related with family violence and road safety Inter-ministerial National Coordination Body for family violence prevention and National coordination body for road safety were established. Report on violence and health in Macedonia and guide for prevention and Evaluation Report of the emergency medical services in Macedonia were prepared, Strategy for family violence, Law for prevention and protection of family violence, Protocol for family violence prevention and Strategy for Road Safety were adopted. WHO TEACH VIP capacity building was applied. Resolution EUR/RC55/R9 was successfully implemented in Macedonia with 82% of 99 effective interventions, compared to European Region median score of 73% and much lower mortality of injuries with SDR 28/100000.

Conclusions Significant achievments in this decade are in national policy development, injury surveillance, capacity-building, multisectoral collaboration and evidence-based emergency care. Future challenges are evidence–based interventions for safety promotion and reducing socioeconomic inequalities.