Findings from Pilot Study on Injury Surveillance System in Abu Dhabi Published
Recently, members of the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU), including assistant scientist Katharine Allen and director Adnan Hyder, along with assistant scientist Hafizur Rahman and the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi, published findings from a pilot injury surveillance system in Abu Dhabi.
In the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, injuries and poisoning are the second leading cause of death and disability, but in order to develop effective prevention strategies, it’s necessary to understand the nature of injuries, including the numbers, types, severity and circumstances in which these injuries occur. Better data will allow for more effective prioritization and allocation of health resources.
Recognizing the need for such information, the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD) developed a draft electronic and paper-based injury and poisoning notification system (IPNS) in 2009 to collect and provide ongoing evidence-based injury data including nature/severity of injury as well as extended injury information for strategy development and resource allocation.
To test the feasibility of the system, a 10-month pilot study was conducted in three selected hospitals across the three medical regions of Abu Dhabi. The objectives of the study were to identify 1) characteristics of injury cases, 2) risk factors associated with injuries, 3) the nature and type of data collecting within IPNS and 4) the working mechanism of data collection.
One highlight from the study includes the revelation that the majority of recorded injuries occurred at home – which differs from existing studies which are focused primarily on road traffic injuries and occupational injuries.
This pilot study is the first systematically standardized collection of injury data across three facilities in the three medical regions on Abu Dhabi and provides initial information related to the types of injuries and risk factors associated with injuries that will help highlight the need for evidence-based interventions for injury prevention and control.
“Descriptive epidemiology of injury cases: findings from a pilot injury surveillance system in Abu Dhabi” was published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. Access the full article here.