Professor Peter Donkor, the Provost of the College of Health

Sciences, said the meeting is part of activities organized under the Fogarty Project on Injury Control and Research between KNUST and its American collaborators. He expressed the hope that participants would focus on the synergy to be derived from closer cooperation towards tackling the threat of injury in various communities in the sub-region. Dr Beth Ebel, Director, Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Centre, USA, said injury is an important public health problem world-wide and its solutions depend mostly on national priorities, funding, and workforce.

She said road traffic injuries are some of the leading causes of death in low and middle income countries, adding, it would continue to increase despite the efforts by the countries to prevent it. Dr Ebel said prevention is the most cost-effective way to reduce death and disability and that a strategy like low-cost trauma intervention could have large returns on public health. She noted there is the need for an improved pre-hospital triage and care, trauma care focusing on preventable deaths, rehabilitation and reduced disability as well as medical leadership to support policies and laws at national, regional and local levels.

Dr Ebel called for collaborative efforts by a consultative body of stakeholders to create care centres, train first line care givers to manage accidents immediately and most of all organise periodic intervention programmes for drivers. Professor Charles Mock, an injury adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO), emphasised the need to strengthen the injury surveillance system, primary prevention activities including public education, pre-hospital care, including evacuation of the injured, hospital treatment of the injured, rehabilitation services and the support of medical leadership and other stakeholders. This, he noted, would minimize the death and disability associated with injury. 10 Nov. 10