The next 20 years - challenges and opportunities for injury and violence prevention

摘要

Over the past 20 years there have been many efforts to reduce the burden of injury yet they still remain a major public health threat. Injuries are the leading cause of death in the United States for people from 1 to 44 years of age (National Center for Injury Prevention, Control, 2012). Looking forward we must acknowledge both challenges and opportunities to prevent injuries and violence for the next 20 years and beyond. The ultimate goal is to integrate injury and violence prevention as a core component within the governmental public health infrastructure. Important tasks along the way to this goal are acceptance of injury as a public health problem, building a reliable and sustainable funding stream, and developing a more robust advocacy network.