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Abstract
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Background The Caribbean Region experiences high levels of violence and injury. Limited research is available on the status of existing violence and injury prevention (VIP) efforts and surveillance systems.
Methods The Caribbean Public Health Agency undertook a survey to gather evidence of VIP in 24 member countries. The questionnaire on VIP was developed using available literature on injury surveillance systems. The survey was administered to national epidemiologists and non-communicable disease focal points in October 2015 using an online tool, "Survey Monkey". Questions were asked about the availability in each country of VIP representative surveys, policies, action plans, laws, victim support services, and surveillance systems.
Results Nineteen (79%) countries completed the VIP survey. Only three (16%) countries confirmed having undertaken a nationally representative survey. Twelve (63%) had not developed a national policy and 14 (74%) had not implemented an action plan on VIP. Each country reported the existence of VIP laws and offered victim support services, though average enforcement ranged from 40-79%. Nine (47%) countries indicated using an injury registry and 15 (79%) reported collecting injury data with in-patient records, mainly from public hospitals. All 19 countries confirmed that records of reported violent incidents were maintained by the police. Unique identifiers were generally lacking in registries and police systems. Only four (44%) countries with registries, ten (67%) countries with in-patient injury data, and 12 (63%) countries with police records indicated sharing data with other organisations.
Conclusions Each country reported some level of injury surveillance system; however, such systems should be harmonised to produce more complete baseline data. The use of unique identifiers is required to reduce duplication and effectively link surveillance systems.
Abstract from Safety 2016 World Conference, 18-21 September 2016; Tampere, Finland. Copyright © 2016 The author(s), Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions
Language: en |