Fuente: © European Parliament
http://www.europarl.eu.int/

EU: Prevention of injury and promotion of safety recommendations

/noticias.info/ Parliament adopted a non-binding report on a list of recommendations addressed to the Member States on the prevention of injuries and to set out Commission tasks supporting the prevention of injuries as well as the promotion of safety.

Approximately 235,000 citizens in the European Union die every year as a result of an accident or violence-related injuries. This amounts to more than 600 fatalities caused by injury per day. Injuries also contribute to social and economic burdens, accounting for about seven million hospital admissions and 65 million medical treatments every year. In order to reduce these burdens, the committee highlights the issues of data collection and data quality, and stresses the importance of promoting safety as well as raising awareness of cost reductions from injury prevention measures.

This recommendation is being proposed in order to help reduce the amount of injuries across the EU, which after cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory diseases, is the fourth most common cause of death in the Member States. Unlike other diseases, however, injuries are preventable and experience shows that when proper measures are introduced the number of accidents and injuries can be reduced considerably.

MEPs call for the Commission to submit a legislative proposal for the establishment of a Community-wide injury surveillance system, for the exchange of information on good practice and for the dissemination of information including precise details of financial implications.

The House points out that People over 65 years of age represent 16% of the total population in the EU, but suffer a disproportionate 40% of fatal injuries; thus the elderly run more than double the risk of encountering a fatal accident, and long bone fractures are the main cause of hospitalisation among the elderly.

Parliament says that Member States should pay particular attention to the social determinants that provoke injuries and insecurity: the biggest difference in injury, mortality and morbidity rates is between poorer and wealthier countries, and between social classes within countries. The gap is growing, due to factors such as increased road traffic, worsening inequalities in terms of income, higher unemployment, decreasing social support, market liberalisation and increased availability of alcohol, and poor regulatory and enforcement mechanisms. The unemployed, ethnic minority groups, migrant workers, refugees, and disabled and homeless people are particularly at risk.

Finally, the House also says that Member States should ensure that insurance companies that have access to injury data provide all relevant data to the Member States in order to facilitate the definition of the mechanisms and places where accidents most frequently occur and use this information to improve prevention. notas_de_prensa_archivo