Need for a UK injury control strategy.

Recently UK Public Health Strategy and media reporting has understandably been dominated by the fight against the Global COVID – 19 pandemic. Rates of new cases, admissions to hospital / critical care and deaths by setting – not just in hospital - are used to assess the success of infection control and calibrate the path out of lockdown. Like infection, the epidemiology of injury is related to human activity and behaviour, but injuries have remained the commonest cause of death for men aged 15-35 and women aged 10 to 30 for more than 20 years, and in 2020 are still likely to kill more people in these age groups than Covid-19. Injury deaths in older people from Traumatic Brain Injury are also on the rise The modern ‘epidemic’ of injury has attracted little media or government interest. We have specific road safety and violence reduction initiatives but no overarching national perspective, strategy or focus on reducing the UK injury burden.