@article{ref1,
title="Incidence, causes and factors associated with torso injury",
journal="African journal of thoracic and critical care medicine",
year="2021",
author="Schewitz, Ivan",
volume="27",
number="3",
pages="e82-e82",
abstract="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...<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2617-0191",
doi="10.7196/AJTCCM.2021.v27i3.169",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.7196/AJTCCM.2021.v27i3.169"
}