Since its inception 27 years ago (1990), the Health Promotion Journal of Australia has featured many articles on aspects of injury prevention, particularly noticeable during the past five years. With this issue, it will be only the second time the journal has launched a Special Issue on injury prevention, the first one appearing in Volume 1, issue 2, in 1991.¹ As editors of the current issue, we felt the dedicated emphasis on injury prevention and health promotion in the journal is long overdue, given that our careers in injury prevention have changed considerably since the first Special Issue was published (and that a new cadre of health promotion professionals have entered the field). Therefore, we believe it is timely and important to feature some of the recent research focusing on injury prevention and health promotion.

In addition to the many preventable diseases that are seen in the practice of health promotion, there is one health threat that the public still accepts as a fait accompli—injuries. Injuries, which include both unintentional injuries and violence, are a major public health problem impacting individuals, families and the communities in which they live. Injuries and violence are widespread, affecting populations across the world.²

Every day, around the world, almost 16 000 people die from an injury—this accounts for 10% of the world’s deaths, 32% more than the number of fatalities that result from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined. Nearly one‐third of the 5.8 million deaths from injuries are the result of violence and nearly another one‐quarter are the result of road traffic crashes. Almost twice as many men than women die as a result of injuries and violence each year and traffic crashes are the main cause of death among young men worldwide. For every person who dies, thousands more are nonfatally injured— many of them are permanently disabled.²

Injury rates are also generally higher in rural areas, as compared with urban settings.^3,4 This is often related to poverty, remoteness and residents’ exposure to different hazards (eg, violence in large urban centres, pesticides in rural and agricultural areas and access to water bodies). The built environment can be protective (such as bridges for pedestrians over roads or rives); however, environmental factors can also contribute to higher injury rates in rural areas, for example higher speed limits on rural roads, poorer road conditions, and medical care that is less available in a timely fashion to those who are injured.⁵

Both unintentional injuries and those caused by acts of violence are among the top 15 killers for both Australians and Americans of all ages.^6,7 They are the number one cause of death among children and adolescents and a leading cause of disability for all ages, regardless of sex, race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. In the United States, more than 180 000 people die from injuries each year, and approximately 1 in 10 sustain a nonfatal injury serious enough to be treated in a hospital emergency department.⁸ In Australia in 20112012, there were 11 192 injury‐related deaths with an age‐standardised rate of 46 deaths per 100 000 population and in 2014‐2015, there were 484 000 occurrences of injuries requiring hospitalisation, a rate of 1966 per 100 000 population.^3,4

In Australia in 2011, the top three causes of disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs) (which quantifies both premature mortality [ Years of Lost Life (YLLs)] and disability [Years Lost to Disability ( YLDs )] within a population) were coronary heart disease, other musculoskeletal and back problems.⁹ Injuries represent approximately 10 % of DALYs in Australia and the USA with injury categories such as transport, self‐harm and falls causing a significant burden¹⁰ ( see Table 1).

Beyond their immediate health consequences, injuries and violence are a major contributor to poor mental health; high medical costs; and lost productivity.¹¹ The effects of injuries extend beyond the injured person to family members, friends, coworkers, employers and communities and are a major economic drain on nations, particularly in low‐ and middle‐income countries which account for more than 90% of the injury burden.¹² Estimating the current cost of injury is challenging due to a limited number of studies, however, a recent study exploring cost of injury in Western Australia estimated the cost to be $9.6 billion in 2012,¹³ the cost of injuries due to work in Australia was estimated at $28.2 billion in 2012‐2013,¹⁴ and the direct cost to the health system in 2015‐2016 was $1.01 billion.¹⁵

Injury prevention and health promotion share the common goal of reducing mortality and morbidity by bringing together coalitions and communities to develop and implement educational, behavioural and structural initiatives.^16,17 Injury prevention in Australia is at a nexus, and while we have been a world leader in a number of areas, there is still much to be done. We could better integrate injury prevention and health promotion and educate more on how to lower the risks of injury, as has occurred with other health issues such as cancer and heart disease. Perhaps this is in part due to the belief by the public that injuries are the result of “accidents,” acts of fate, random events or acts of God. However, most events resulting in injury, disability or death are predictable and preventable, just as are many noncommunicable diseases. If the prevention of injuries and violence were considered by more health promotion practitioners as fundamental to their mission, perhaps many more deaths and disabilities could be prevented.

Injury prevention has a strong scientific foundation and many strategies are cost‐effective,¹⁸ yet effective interventions efforts are not fully implemented or integrated into community settings. Injury prevention and health promotion have a common appreciation of the multiple determinants of health¹⁹ that include:

Interventions approaches successfully used in health promotion are used to address injuries, for example modifications to the environment, strengthening legislation and enforcement, promoting education and behaviour change, and making products safer.²⁰ Using health promotion for injury prevention and control can help reduce health care costs and improve the quality of life, and should be encouraged by health planning agencies and health systems.²¹

This series of 14 articles reviews the burden of injuries and violence, evaluates the effectiveness of various interventions, discusses theories and methods that can be adapted for use in various population settings, and illustrates how interventions can be used to improve practice among minority and disadvantaged groups such as First Nation People. This Special Issue contains articles on alcohol and injury,^22–25 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander injury prevention,^26–28 child injury prevention,^25,26,29 drowning prevention,^29,30 falls,^27,31,32 farm safety,³³ first aid³⁴ and injury surveillance.³⁵

There are examples in these articles of the benefits of creating, sustaining and growing injury prevention and health promotion and how professionals can contribute to the reduction of injuries and violence.^23,27 This compilation reinforces the importance of partnerships, as a way of strengthening injury prevention efforts.³² These articles also reinforce the need to frame injuries and violence as predictable and preventable public health problems and the importance of identifying and implementing evidence‐based interventions.^29–31,33 Educational and awareness‐raising efforts targeted to inform the public and decision‐makers are emphasised in this series of articles and can contribute to preventing and controlling injuries and violence, but also may provide support to strengthen the capacity of health systems to address injuries.^28,29

Authors, reviewers and editorial staff associated with these 14 articles have invested time and energy into these research contributions in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia. Readers are encouraged to take every available opportunity to close the gap between the knowledge presented here and its application in their own community settings.^36,37 Applications of research findings to real‐world settings are not easy, but are necessary to advance the impact of injury prevention efforts.³⁸ It is hoped that the articles in this issue of Health Promotion Journal of Australia will inspire public health and health promotion professionals around the world to look at the potential for improving health through taking action on injury prevention. The information contained in these articles encourages us to approach injury prevention with as much scholarship and rigour as has been devoted to other health promotion topics, such as physical activity, obesity, tobacco control, diabetes management and other noncommunicable and communicable diseases.³⁹ The time of act is now. What better future can we offer the health of nations than to promote a world free from injury?