The fast and important increase in morbidity and mortality due to accidents and violence has been one of the most relevant aspects of the epidemiological transition in Brazil since the 80s. This intricate problem calls for social and political measures, and the development of specific legislation and tools for intervening in terms of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of those affected, so that risk groups and factors can be identified. The aim of the present paper is to discuss conceptual and operational aspects of using surveillance in adverse health events related to accidents and violence/trauma. Some specific issues related to case definition, identification of sources of information and collecting relevant data are discussed after presenting the concepts, common features and operational aspects related to surveillance systems, regardless of the adverse health events they are aimed at. These issues are discussed in order to try to identify the differences of applying surveillance to accidents and violence in comparison to applying it to infectious diseases. Among the differences one must point out that it is generally necessary to supplement results obtained through surveillance with epidemiological studies in order to identify risk factors.
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