The Health of a Nation - Injury

1. 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

2. Today’s session • National Trends • Inequities • Cost to the community • Health Promotion

3. http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/index.htmlhttp://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/index.html http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10321

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

5. 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.

6. Injury trends 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.

7. 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.

8. Trends for casualties

9. 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.

10. Injury

11. Groups experiencing inequity

12. 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.

13. 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 accidents 1.6 more from suicide Females 2.0 more for traffic accidents 1.3 for suicide

14. Gender Injury deaths, proportion and rates - 2004

15. Gender

16. Gender

17. Gender

19. 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

20. 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

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

22. Younger people

23. 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.

24. Health Promotion

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

26. The National Road Safety Strategy http://www.atsb.gov.au/road/national_road_safety_strategy/index.aspx

27. NSW Health promotion activities addressing road injury

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

29. Strategies to target key issues • Speed • Fatigue • Restraints • Drink Drive • Overloading • Pedestrians • Bicycles

30. Bring the Mob Home Safely an example of a new public health approach

31. Developing personal skills – culturally appropriate information Þ

32. Strengthening community action Work with Elders Work with young people

33. Strengthening community action - key aboriginal events • Survival (Australia Day) • NAIDOC(2nd week of July) • Croc Festival (September) • Knockout (October long weekend)

34. Building healthy public policy RTA Aboriginal Action Plan http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/downloads/aboriginal_action_plan2006_2010.pdf

35. Building healthy public policy http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/downloads/aboriginal_action_plan2006_2010.pdf