healthmedicinet

Stakeholders and decision makers across health and allied sectors must play a key role in developing and implementing innovative solutions to road traffic injuries and trauma care, especially in developing nations, according to recommendations published in a new report developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report was issued as part of an international health summit held in Doha, Qatar on December 10.

“Road Injuries and Trauma Care: Innovations for Policy,” written by professor of International Health and director of the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU), Adnan Hyder, together with JH-IIRU faculty Prasanthi Puvanachandra and doctoral student Kate Allen, identified the best available evidence, good practices and promising innovations emerging around the world on road traffic injury prevention and trauma care. Developed with a team of global experts, including colleagues from the World Health Organization, The Global Road Safety Partnership, private sector and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the report was released as part of the inaugural World Innovation Summit on Health, 2013 (WISH-2013).

“Road traffic injuries kill more than 1.2 million people worldwide each year and injure an additional 20 to 50 million. They are the 8th leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause of death for young people aged 15-29 years,” said Hyder. “Our report assesses the current spectrum of available innovations to address road traffic injuries and trauma care, contextualizes the work that needs to be undertaken to move the field forward and synthesizes this knowledge into practical policy recommendations for decision-makers.”

Perhaps most importantly, the report takes a global and multi-sectoral perspective, with sensitivity to those regions of the world that face specific social, economic and financial challenges, to examine the current work being done and provoke both discussion and action, especially in those areas requiring immediate attention or urgent retooling of approaches.

“The symposium in Qatar—the first of its kind—stresses the pivotal role innovation plays in addressing global health challenges,” said Professor David Bishai, forum member and senior technical advisor to JH-IIRU.”I believe the resulting report represents an important milestone for global health.”