Injury prevention research, practice and policy news

I urge readers to take note of Herb Linn's addition to the West Virginia Injury Control and Research Center offerings. He provides a weekly summary from Journals related to, as the title suggests, injury prevention research, practice, and policy. Probably the best way to receive this is to contact Dr Linn at hlinn2@hsc.wvu.edu. Whether this complements what David Lawrence does or competes with it, remains unclear. I thought both received support from CDC for this useful way of keeping up with the literature. However, it appears I was wrong because I recently saw this message from Lawrence: “Effective 1 September 2013 all existing funding for SafetyLit and its staff will end. Although we will be able to maintain SafetyLit for at least another year through volunteer work, a stable funding source must be identified.” Steps are being taken to make donations tax deductible and Lawrence urges organisations that use the service “to include a link to SafetyLit from an appropriate page on its website and that satisfied users share their enthusiasm with their institution's decision-makers. Please have the link point to the following: http://www.safetylit.org

Editors comment: This is bad news and to me, at least, inexplicable. SafetyLit has provided an exceptional service to the entire injury prevention community.

Large decline in murders in Medellín Columbia

Until recently Medellin was the murder capital of the world. Its murder rate was 380 per 100 000 whereas today San Pedro Sula in Honduras, todays most deadly city outside a war zone, has a rate of 169 per 100 000. However, Medellin's murder rate has fallen by more than 80% earning it an international award as ‘the world's most innovative city’. Much of the progress is attributed to ‘groundbreaking urban planning and public transport initiatives’ that are part of a plan to reduce crime and fight poverty by reclaiming slums. There …