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Abstract
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Road traffic accidents are the most common cause of torso injuries worldwide. The article by Wepngong et al.[1] in this issue of the AJTCCM stresses the effect this has on the morbidity and mortality and the long-term effects on patients. This is a timely reminder of the effects of this pandemic and the long-term effects on communities.
On average, the COVID-19 pandemic causes 2 205 deaths per day worldwide.[2] This is in comparison with 3 406 deaths from road accidents, 3 243 from tuberculosis, 3 753 from diabetes, 2 615 from HIV/AIDS and 2 175 from suicide. Road accident deaths is a greater pandemic worldwide than COVID-19. It is something that we have had in South Africa for generations and that costs the country a great deal economically and is not headline news. If our reaction to the road accident pandemic was similar to what has occurred with COVID-19, we would ban interprovincial travel, close all liquor outlets permanently, have a nightly curfew from 21h00 to 04h00 and prevent gatherings of >50 people, especially major events such as political rallies and soccer and rugby tournaments.
The most common cause of torso injuries, as shown by Wepngong et al.,[1] are road accidents with a significant number of the injured needing time off work. In low- (LIC) and middle-income countries (MIC) such as we have in many African countries, this is of major significance. Most of these patients are young and the effect on the economy is significant...
Language: en |