The Health of a Nation - Injury Allan Booth Manager Road Safety Education Program Curriculum K-12 Directorate NSW Department of Education & Training NSW

The Health of a Nation - Injury

Allan Booth

Manager Road Safety Education Program

Curriculum K-12 Directorate

NSW Department of Education & Training

NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au



Today’s session

• National Trends

• Inequities

• Cost to the community

• Health Promotion



http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/index.html

http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10321



Around 6% of all deaths registered in Australia in 2004 were considered to be due to injury – almost 22 per day.



Injury deaths

• Intentional self harm or suicide (26%), transport injury (22%) and falls (20%) accounted for two-thirds of injury deaths in 2004.

• Suicide was the most frequent external cause of injury death in males and unintentional falls was the most common cause among females.



The injury (and poisoning) death rates in Australia have halved during the past 50 years from 116 deaths per 100,000 males in 1955 to 55 in 2004and a corresponding fall for females from 51 to 23 deaths per 100,000 females.

Injury trends



Injury trends

Deaths from transport-related accidents are also the lowest since World War II, the period when motor vehicles became the preferred means of transport. Death rates have consistently fallen between 1970 and 2004, from a high of 53 deaths to 12 deaths per 100,00 males and from 14 deaths to 4 deaths per 100,000 females.



Trends for casualties Casualties, Selected Age Groups, NSW, 1995-2004

36% reduction

31% reduction

43% reduction

16% reduction

-

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004Age Group

No

of C

asua

lties

0-45-910-1415-19



Northern Territory Injury death rates in NT 1991-2000 • NT Indigenous injury death rate is 3.4x the

national rate • NT Non-Indigenous death rate is 1.5x the

national rate • 17% of all deaths in NT were due to injury

versus 6% nationally • Injury is the 3rd leading cause of death in the NT

(2nd for the Indigenous population) after cardiovascular disease and cancer.

• The leading causes of injury death are transport accident, violence, falls and suicide.

• The leading causes of hospital admission due to injury are violence, falls and transport accidents.



Injury



Groups experiencing inequity



ATSI

• Injuries - sustained in accidents such as car crashes. An indigenous person is three times more likely to die in an accident than a non-indigenous person. The Aboriginal population also has high rates of suicide and homicide.

• HospitalisationIndigenous people are nearly twice as likely to be admitted to hospital than non-indigenous people. For children aged 15 years and under, the main reasons for hospitalisation include diseases of the chest and throat, injuries caused by accidents and middle ear infections.



Socioeconomic disadvantage

Death rates for people aged 25-64 years living in areas of most disadvantage, compared to those living in areas of least disadvantage.

Males 2.2 times more for traffic accidents1.6 more from suicideFemales2.0 more for traffic accidents1.3 for suicide



Gender

Measure Males Females Persons

Number of deaths 5285 2681 7966

Proportion of all deaths

7.7% 4.2% 6.0%

Crude rate per

100,000 population

52.9 26.4 39.6

Adjusted rate per 100,000 population

55.1 23.4 38.8

Injury deaths, proportion and rates - 2004



Casualties, Drivers,

2002-2004 Three Year Average

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19

MaleFemale

Gender



Casualties, Passengers,


0

200

400

600

800

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19

MaleFemale

Gender



Casualties, Pedal Cyclists,


0

50

100

150

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19

MaleFemale

Gender



Casualties, Motorcyclists,


0

50

100

150

200

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19

MaleFemale



Older people

• Falls account for about one-third of hospitalised injury and about one-fifth of fatal injuries in Australia. By far the highest rates of these injuries are at older ages



Older people

• Older people are over represented in pedestrian fatalities and have a greater chance of being killed when they are involved in a motor vehicle crash.

• Dementia and vision problems are the most significant issue affecting older drivers



Younger people

In 2004, 47% of all deaths of persons aged 1-44 years were due to injury.



Younger peopleCasualties per 100,000 Population, NSW,


0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1,000

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70+

Age Group

Cas

ualti

es p

er 1

00,0

00 P

opul

atio

n

MalesFemalesTotal



Cost to the Community

In 2003, injury estimated to contributed to have contributed to :

•138,000 years of life lost (YLL) due to disease •106,600 years of ‘healthy’ life lost due to poor health or disability (YLD)

Significant health costs are also attributable to injury, accounting for approximately 8% of the total direct costs of all diseases annually.

Health costs associated with injury in Australia have been estimated to be $2.6 billion annually. This compares to the total direct cost for cancer of $1.4 billion for the same period.



Health Promotion



http://www.nphp.gov.au/publications/sipp/atsi.pdf



The National Road Safety Strategy

http://www.atsb.gov.au/road/national_road_safety_strategy/index.aspx



NSW Health promotion activities

addressing road injury



http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/downloads/aboriginal_action_plan2006_2010.pdf

Aboriginal Action Plan



Strategies to target key issues

• Speed• Fatigue• Restraints• Drink Drive• Overloading• Pedestrians • Bicycles



Bring the Mob Home Safely

an example of a new public health approach



Developing personal skills – culturally appropriate

information



Strengthening community action

Work with Elders

Work with young people



Strengthening community action - key aboriginal events

• Survival (Australia Day)

• NAIDOC(2nd week of July)

• Croc Festival (September)

• Knockout (October long weekend)



Building healthy public policy

RTA Aboriginal Action Plan http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/downloads/aboriginal_action_plan2006_2010.pdf



Building healthy public policy

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/downloads/aboriginal_action_plan2006_2010.pdf

Documents

The Health of a Nation - Injury Allan Booth Manager Road Safety Education Program Curriculum K-12 Directorate NSW Department of Education & Training NSW