Injury and violence prevention

Fact sheet

Key facts

• Injuries accounted for five of the top 20 causes of death in Viet Nam (2010)
• Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death from injury, followed by falls and drowning.
• Injuries are the leading cause of death in children (0-17)
• 88% of injury deaths are unintentional.

The situation

• Injury is a leading cause of death and disability in Viet Nam and was estimated to be responsible for 12.8% of all deaths in 2010, more than double the number of deaths associated with communicable disease (5.6%).
• According to the Vietnam National Injury Survey, injuries caused more than 35,000 deaths in Vietnam in 2010. Road traffic injuries, falls and drowning are the leading causes of death.
• Drowning is the leading cause of injury death among children and adolescents (0-19 years of age.
• According to a national representative survey on violence against women, at least 32% of women reported experiencing physical violence in their life time.

WHO's response

• WHO has been working with the Viet Namese Government on injury prevention since 2001.
• The programme has obtained more prominence and financial support in recent years and WHO now has two major areas of work with the Government – prevention of road traffic injuries and the strengthening of pre-hospital and trauma care for the victims of injury.