i
Road traffic fatalities in selected governorates of Iraq from 2010 to 2013: prospective surveillance
-
Feb 24 2016
Source: Confl Health. 10. -
Alternative Title:Confl Health
-
Publisher's site:
-
Personal Author:
-
Description:Background
The insurgency tactics that characterize modern warfare, such as suicide car bombs and roadside bombs, have the potential to significantly impact road traffic injuries in conflict affected-countries. As road traffic incidents are one of the top ten causes of death in Iraq, changes in incidence have important implications for the health system. We aimed to describe patterns of road traffic fatalities for all demographic groups and types of road users in Iraq during a period characterized by a resurgence in insurgency activity.
Methods
Iraqi Ministry of Health routine prospective injury surveillance collects information on all fatal injuries in eight governorates of Iraq: Baghdad, Al-Anbar, Basrah, Erbil, Kerbala, Maysan, Ninevah, and Al-Sulaimaniya. From all injury fatalities documented at the coroner office, we analyzed only those attributed to road traffic that occurred between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2013. Coroners ascertain information from physical examinations, police reports and family members.
Results
Analysis included 7,976 road traffic fatalities. Overall, 6,238 (78.2Â %) fatalities were male and 2,272 (28.5Â %) were children under 18Â years of age. The highest numbers of road traffic fatalities were among males 15 to 34Â years of age and children of both sexes under 5Â years of age. 49.2Â % of fatalities occurred among pedestrians. Among children and females, the majority of road traffic fatalities were pedestrians, 69.0Â % and 56.6Â %, respectively. Fatalities among motorcyclists (3.7Â %) and bicyclists (0.4Â %) were least common. Rates of road traffic fatalities ranged from 8.6 to 10.7 per 100,000 population.
Conclusions
The injury surveillance system provides the first data from a conflict-affected country on road traffic fatalities disaggregated by type of road user. The highest numbers of fatalities were among children and young men. Nearly half of fatalities were pedestrians, a proportion nearly double that of any neighboring country. As insurgency activity increased in 2013, the number of road traffic fatalities declined.
-
Subject:
-
Source:
-
Pubmed ID:26913063
-
Pubmed Central ID:PMC4765069
-
Document Type:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
File Type:
-
gif jpeg bin txt gif jpeg gif jpeg gif jpeg
Details:
Supporting Files
More +