Selected Topics - Injuries and Violence

• Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse
  The ADFV Clearinghouse is a national resource on Australian domestic and family violence policy, practice and research for government, the academy, and the general community.
• Injury Risk Management Research Centre (IRMRC)
  The IRMRC is an independent cross-faculty research centre of UNSW, with strong links to the Faculties of Engineering, Medicine and Science. The centre aims to be a leading source of information on risk management both nationally and internationally.

Events

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Upcoming Events

Global policies and related documents

• Approaches to Comprehensive National Policies on Ageing: Government - NGO Cooperation United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 2004
• UNHCR Position on claims for refugee status under the 1951 Convention, relating to status of refugees based on a fear of prosecution due to an individual's membership of family or clan engaged in a blood feud.

Reports, guidelines and projects

• Addressing Gender-Based Violence in the Latin American and Caribbean Region: A Critical Review of Interventions
  This World Bank report by Sarah Bott, Mary Ellsberg, and Andrew Morrison examines strategies to prevent and address gender-based violence in Latin America in legal, institutional, and community frameworks.
• Beyond Firewood: Fuel Alterntives and Protection Strategies for Displaced Women and Girls
  "...The environment that surrounds refugee or internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, particularly in situations of ongoing conflict, is notoriously dangerous. Yet every day, in hundreds of camps around the world, millions of women and girls venture out into this danger, risking rape, assault, abduction, theft, exploitation or even murder, in order to collect enough firewood to cook for their families..." Published by the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, this report examines the plight of these women and children and offers various alternative strategies to reduce the risks.
• Child Protection in Emergencies
  This report from Save the Children examines the plight of children in emergency situations. It outlines the international legal frameworks that govern the rights of children including human rights law and security council resolutions, as well as the psycho-social implications for the children themselves. It offers recommendations and suggests protection priorities, encompassing integrating and implementing protection, gender based violence, children associated with armed forces and the provision of education.
• Comparing Pretesting Methods: Cognitive Interviews, Respondent Debriefing, and Behavior Coding
  This paper by Kristen Ann Hughees compares three methods of pretesting using the version of a series of computer-crime questions from the U.S. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS); cognitive interviewing, respondent debriefing, and behavior coding.
• Drowning Prevention Strategy (New Zealand)
  On average, 130 people drown in New Zealand every year and about 650 are hospitalised as a result of water-related injuries. The Drowning Prevention Strategy: Towards a Water Safe New Zealand 2005-2015 provides a framework to guide the efforts of the water safety sector towards a Water-Safe New Zealand, free from drowning.
• Family violence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
  This report, published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, "presents information on the extent of violence (in particular family violence) in the Indigenous population, using existing surveys and administrative data collections. Information is presented on the prevalence of violence, associated harm and services for victims of violence, as well as on those in contact with the criminal justice system. The report also discusses gaps in existing information, the extent to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are identified and strategies to improve the information on family violence. This report is a useful resource for policy makers, administrators of programs and researchers with an interest in issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples."
• Family Violence in Rural, Farm and Remote Canada
  This paper is published by the Canadian Farm Womens' Network. The researchers' focus is to identify the victims of family violence, state the acts of family violence, and record the current methods of dealing with family violence in order to define family violence in rural and farm communities. The conclusions based on the input of grassroots farm women's organisations in Canada will result in recommendations that could address and remedy the problem of family violence in rural communities and on family farms.
• Injuries and Violence in Europe: Why they matter and what can be done
  "Injuries create huge human, financial and other costs to society. In the WHO European Region, road traffic injuries, drowning, poisoning, falls, fires, self-inflicted injuries and interpersonal violence are estimated to kill over 2000 people, put 60 000 others in hospital and necessitate outpatient emergency treatment for 600 000 more every day... This booklet summarizes the findings of a larger publication (in press) and identifies eight unique opportunities for policy-makers, civil-society organizations and professionals in the health sector to improve health by reducing the burden of injuries on the European Region….”
• Interventions to reduce violence and promote physical and psycho-social well-being of women who experience partner violence: a systematic review of controlled evaluations
  "...This report forms part of a research initiative on synthesis and review of evidence in public health. The aim of this report was to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions relevant to health care for the reduction of violence or improvement of the physical and psychosocial well-being of women who have experienced or are experiencing partner violence. Key findings include evidence to suggest that advocacy, support groups, psychological and system-centred interventions have been beneficial. Also highlighted is the usefulness of multi-agency case conferences…..”
• Make Roads Safe: A New Priority for Sustainable Development
  This report aims to focus political and public attention on a global road traffic injury epidemic that claims lives of more than 1.2 million people and injures around 50 million annually. Road traffic injuries are responsible for a global health burden similar to malaria and tuberculosis, and as those diseases road crashes hit developing countries hardest. Yet while the fight against malaria and TB justifiably commands considerable funding and political and media attention, global road safety is seriously under-resourced in all these respects.
• Preventing Injuries from Falls Strategy(New Zealand)
  Falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalisation and one of the top three causes of injury-related death in New Zealand. Most falls are preventable. This site outlines New Zealand's Preventing Injury from Falls Strategy, which provides a common goal and direction for falls prevention activities nationwide.
• Profiling Domestic Violence:A Multi-Country Study [4MB}
  "This study uses household and individual-level data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program to examine the prevalence and correlates of domestic violence and the health consequences of domestic violence for women and their children. It uses data from nine countries—Cambodia (2000), Colombia (2000), the Dominican Republic (2002), Egypt (1995), Haiti (2000), India (1998-1999), Nicaragua (1998), Peru (2000), and Zambia (2001-2002).”
• Silent voices: women with disabilities and family and domestic violence
  This 2003 report by Judith Cockram for People with Disabilities (Western Australia) presents the findings of research aimed at the nature and extent of domestic violence against women with disabilities and whether their needs were being met by the services provided. Includes an extensive review of the literature.
• Urban Violence and Insecurity: An Introductory Roadmap
  This paper addresses the following objectives: to define and systematically categorise the multiple forms of violence; to profile the measurement, trends and characteristics of urban violence; to identify interrelated causes, costs and consequences of the phenomenon; and to understand the different types of interventions to reduce violence at national, city and community level, focusing on the urban poor and excluded.
• WHO Helmet Initiative
  The World Health Organization Helmet Initiative promotes the use of motorcycle and bicycle helmets worldwide and serves as a resource for those wishing to learn more about helmets and to promote their use. The Helmet Initiative stimulates and provides a resource to public health agencies, safety organisations, nongovernmental organisations and other agencies to promote the use of helmets.
• WHO Multicountry Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women
  This report presents initial results of a study based on interviews with 24 000, implemented by WHO, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), PATH, USA, research institutions and women's organisations in the participating countries. Report findings document the prevalence of intimate partner violence and its association with women's physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health The report concludes with 15 recommendations to strengthen national commitment and action on violence against women. Data from the report show that violence against women is widespread and demands a public health response.

Educational resources

• Domestic abuse
  This site, presented by the Nashville Police Department, Domestic Violence Section outlines some of the warning signs of domestic violence. It also provides information about possible responses to violenceand services and resources available to victims.
• Domestic Violence - A practical guide for clinicians
  This article provides a general guide to domestic violence for medical practitioners. It includes information on risks and forms of domestic abuse, methods of screening, diagnosis and clinical findings, medical findings, continuity of care and documentation.
• E-MINE
  E-MINE (Electronic Mine Information Network) is a web-based information gateway designed to support both the planning and coordination of global mine action efforts by making available to all partners reliable information on mine action programmes, issues, best practices and technologies. It is a project of the United Nations Mine Action Service.
• Injury Control Resources Information Network(ICRIN)
  ICRIN is a list of key Internet accessible resources related to the field of injury research and control. The resources are in the form of annotated clickable hyperlinks to other Internet sources and documents.
• Injury Prevention Web
  "Injury Prevention Web hosts the web sites of several agencies and organizations working to prevent injuries. This site contains injury data for every U.S. state, more than 700 links to government and non-profit injury prevention sites worldwide, suggestions of books for your library, the gateway for information about scheduled NIITS sessions, and listings of jobs in the injury research and prevention field"
• International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre(CIS)
  CIS is the knowledge management arm of the InFocus Programme on Safety and Health at Work and the Environment. Its goal is to ensure that workers and everyone concerned with their protection have access to the facts they need to prevent occupational injuries and diseases. CIS continuously monitors world literature on occupational safety and health, providing summaries and citations of the most useful publications, as well as products based on the collected information.
• National Clearinghouse on Family Violence (Canada)
  This site serves as a national clearinghouse for Canadians seeking information about violence within the family and looking for new resources being used to address it. By providing access to the latest research findings the clearinghouse aims to help Canadian communities to work toward the eventual elimination of all forms of family violence.
• OSH-Net
  Osh.Net, an Internet gateway for occupational health and safety resources, is owned and published by WorkCare, a national, occupational health-consulting firm in the U.S.
• OSHWEB
  OSHWEB is an index of occupational safety and health resources on the Internet. The purpose of this site is to provide a good starting point for locating occupational safety and health information from the Net. OSHWEB has been developed by the Institute of Occupational Safety Engineering at Tampere University of Technology, Finland by Teuvo Uusitalo and is now maintained by and further developed by Markku Leppänen.

Organisations and Networks

UN and multinational

• Third Milestones of a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention Report 2007 – Scaling Up
  In the context of Milestones 2007, this WHO report documents progress in countries since 2002. Some key national achievements are: (a) Brazil has published its first national report on violence and health and has completed a national inventory of over 300 violence prevention programmes; (b) Malaysia has released its first national report on violence and health, developed one-stop crisis centres for victims of child maltreatment, and created services for survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence in all government hospitals throughout the country; (c) Mexico has published its first national report on violence and health and established within the Ministry of Health a national centre for the prevention of violence and injuries; (d) Mozambique has developed surveillance systems recording details of violence-related deaths and injuries and has assessed the number and quality of medico-legal services for victims of sexual violence; and (e) The United Kingdom has published its first national report on violence and health, created the Violence Reduction Unit within the Scottish Executive, and has promoted the work of the Cardiff Violence Crime Task Group as a model for community safety partnerships nationwide.
• UN/ECE Regional Co-ordinating Centre for the Prevention of Industrial Accidents
  This centre is charged with implementing the UN Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents which was signed in Helsinki in 1992.
• WHO-Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion
  Amongst other activities this centre reviews applications from communities related to the six Indicators for Safe Communities, organises together with "Safe Communities" annual International and Regional Safe Community Conferences, co-ordinates training courses in injury prevention and safety promotion, publishes a newsletters: "Safe Community Weekly News and Safe Community News and involves in other conferences like the biannual "World Conferences on Injury Prevention and Control".

Government

• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
  CCOHS is the Canadian Governments' agency for Occupational Health and Safety. CCOHS promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing information and advice about occupational health and safety.
• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
  The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work aims to make Europe’s workplaces safer, healthier and more productive. The European Agency acts as a catalyst for developing, collecting, analysing and disseminating information that improves the state of occupational safety and health in Europe. The Agency is a tripartite European Union organisation and brings together representatives from three key decision-making groups in each of the EU’s Member States – governments, employers and workers’ organisations.
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
  The NHTSA is the U.S. government authority responsible for reducing deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. This is accomplished by setting and enforcing safety performance standards for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment, and through grants to state and local governments to enable them to conduct effective local highway safety programs.
• National Institute for Working Life
  The National Institute for Working Life is a national centre of knowledge for issues concerning working life in Sweden. The Institute carries out research and development covering the whole field of working life, on commission from The Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications.
• National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the federal agency of the United States, responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Department of Health and Human Services.
• National Occupational Health and Safety Commission
  The National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) is Australia’s national body that leads and coordinates national efforts to prevent workplace death, injury and disease in Australia. NOHSC’s vision is Australian workplaces free from injury and disease.
• New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy
  The purpose of the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy is to establish a framework for the injury prevention activities of government agencies, local government, non-government organisations, communities and individuals. Its key focus is to strengthen and enhance the infrastructure that supports injury prevention activity to improve safety performance.
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (USA)
  OSHA's mission is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health.

Non Government

• American Institute of Stress
  The American Insitute of Stress is a non-profit organisation founded in 1978, to serve as a clearing house for information on all stress related subjects. The organisation includes physicians and health professionals with expertise in various stress related subjects, including the role of stress in cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and skin disease and immune system disturbances.
• Arts, Craft and Theater Safety
  "ACTS is a not-for-profit corporation, based in New York that provides health, safety, industrial hygiene, technical services, and safety publications to the arts, crafts, museums, and theater communities worldwide."
• Asian-Pacific Regional Network on Occupational Safety and Health Information
  The Asian-Pacific Regional Network on Occupational Safety and Health Information is a part of the global network of the ILO International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS). This site contains OH&S information by country and subject, links to standards and legislation, and accidents and diseases.
• Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children
  The Centre promotes the development of community-centred, action research on violence against women and children. The Centre's role is to facilitate the cooperation of individuals, groups and institutions representing the diversity of the community to pursue research questions and training opportunities to understand and prevent abuse.
• FaithTrust Institute
  FaithTrust Institute is an international, multifaith organisation working to end sexual and domestic violence. We provide communities and advocates with the tools and knowledge they need to address the religious and cultural issues related to abuse. FaithTrust Institute works with many communities, including Asian and Pacific Islander, Buddhist, Jewish, Latino/a, Muslim, Black, Anglo, Indigenous, Protestant and Roman Catholic.
• Health, Environment & Work
  This site was established and is maintained by Raymond Aguis, a Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Manchester. It contains links to detailed information onoccupational health and safety risks in a variety of settings; including identifying hazards, assessing risks and reducing and controlling risks.
• Industrial Accident Prevention Association
  The Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA) is a not-for-profit, member-driven organisation operating in the Province of Ontario Canada since 1917. Representing approximately 47,000 member firms and more than 1.5 million workers, IAPA is Canada’s largest health and safety organisation and has taken a leading role in the prevention of workplace injury and illness, working for improvement in the health and safety performance of our member firms.
• Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention
  IFAP is a non-government, not-for-profit, member based organisation which provides services to improve safety and health at work in Western Australia. IFAP leads the Western Australian Occupational Safety and Health community by providing best practice solutions; access to knowledge and information; and a support network for practitioners.
• Institute for Work & Health
  The Institute for Work and Health is an Ontario-based research, quality improvement and education organisation. The role of the Institute is to research the underlying factors which contribute to workplace health and disability, evaluate designated Ontario rehabilitation facilities, and provide pertinent and timely information on workplace health and rehabilitation to health care workers and stakeholders through education products and workshops.
• International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH)
  ICOH is an international non-governmental professional society whose aims are to foster the scientific progress, knowledge and development of occupational health and safety in all its aspects. The ICOH is recognised by the United Nations as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and has close working relationships with ILO, WHO, UNEP and ISSA.
• International Stress Management Association
  The International Stress Management Association UK is a registered charity with a multi-disciplinary professional membership. It exists to promote sound knowledge and best practice in the prevention and reduction of human stress. It sets professional standards for the benefit of individuals and organisations using the services of its members.
• Injury Prevention Program
  The Injury Prevention Program at Loyola University is dedicated to assisting health care professionals, communities and organisations with assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of injury prevention strategies in an effort to reduce this public health problem. The program is committed to reducing injuries through a community based effort.
• International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention (ISCAIP)
  This society promotes a significant reduction in the number and severity of injuries both unintentional injury and violence to children and adolescents through international collaboration.
• Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI)
  The Public Entity Risk Institute's mission is to serve public, private, and nonprofit organisations as a dynamic, forward thinking resource for the practical enhancement of risk management. PERI provides synergy among existing programs and organisations and serves as a catalyst in the risk management field and a vehicle for allocating greater resources to key needs in risk management.
• SAFE KIDS
  Safe Kids Worldwide is a global network of organisations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury, a leading killer of children 14 and under.
• Society of Toxicology (USA)
  The Society of Toxicology’s core purpose is to enhance human, animal, and environmental health through the science of toxicology. Its objectives include increasing excellence in science, promoting the use of science in regulatory and legislative decision making and encouraging increased investment of resources in toxicology.
• Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse
  The mission of the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) is to support research, education, and access to violence related resources. It coordinates four major projects The MINCAVA Electronic Clearinghouse, Violence Against Women Online Resources, The Link Project and VAWnet (Applied Research Forum).
• Violence Policy Center
  The Violence Policy Center (VPC), a national non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC works to stop the annual toll of death and injury by gun suicides, homicides, and unintentional shootings through research, advocacy, education, and litigation. The VPC approaches gun violence as a public health issue, advocating that firearms be held to the same health and safety standards that virtually all other consumer products must meet.
• Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
  "The VLPA is a county-wide network of public and private individuals and organizations dedicated to addressing violence as a public health issue. The VLPA includes members from public health, the medical community, the judiciary, law enforcement, education, university researchers, the media, the faith community the business community a
• War Child
  War Child is a network of independent organisations working across the world to help children affected by war. War Child was founded upon a fundamental goal: to advance the cause of peace through investing hope in the lives of children caught up in the horrors of war.
  - Mines Awareness / Clearance Project
  - Rehabilitation - Saurimo Hospital nd many, many community based organizations."
• Young Worker Awareness Program
  The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, Ontario's Youth Awareness Program aims to provide health and safety information for young workers, their employers, parents and teachers.

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area

• Centre for Automative Research
  This Centre, at the University of Adelaide South Australia is focused on: conducting multidisciplinary research to understand how road crashes and the resulting injuries are caused; proposing and evaluating ways to prevent crashes and injuries; and providing independent professional advice on road safety matters to government and non-government organisations in Australia and overseas.
• Injury Research Centre
  The mission of the Injury Research Centre at the University of Western Australia is to apply a public health approach to the identification, prevention and control of injuries. The centre’s vision is to reduce the occurrence, severity and consequences of injuries through evidence-based practice by building a research infrastructure that supports integrated basic, strategic and priority-driven research as a platform for the development and implementation of cost-effective strategies for injury prevention that address state, national and international priorities
• Monash University Accident Research Centre (Australia)
  The Accident Research Centre is a leading Australian injury prevention and control research institute. Its charter includes safety in all modes of transport, in the workplace, in the community and in the home.
• Research Centre for Injury Studies
  Part of Flinders University, located in Adelaide, South Australia, the Research Centre for Injury Studies' mission is to contribute to reducing the burden of human injury and adding to knowledge of its nature, causes, effects and control. Staff of the Centre undertake research, surveillance, analysis, consultation, and teaching, and disseminate information on injury control and related matters to public health and other practitioners, academics, government and the community.

Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports

Coming conferences

Conference reports

Journals, Newsletters, Forums

• LabourStart
  LabourStart is an online news service maintained by a global network of volunteers which aims to serve the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information -- and by assisting unions in campaigning and other ways.

Bibliographies, Libraries

Public health bookshops

• Public Health bookshop