Injury Surveillance

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Abstract
Public health surveillance is the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data on health-related events for use in public health action to reduce morbidity and mortality and to improve health (1). More simply put, surveillance is about translating information into action. In the United States, much of the focus of public health surveillance has traditionally been on prevention and control of infectious diseases, an area where surveillance has been used to identify outbreaks, monitor emerging problems, and assess the impact of prevention measures (2–5). Another essential role of public health surveillance is monitoring causes of death, including premature mortality. In that context, injuries clearly emerge as a major public health problem. In 1999, unintentional injuries were the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and were the leading cause for persons in the age group 1–34 years (6). Unintentional injury, together with homicide and suicide, accounted for nearly 60 percent of all deaths among persons aged 1–34 years (6).

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