INJURY CONTROL IN AFRICA - GETTING GOVERNMENTS TO DO MORE

Despite increasing recognition of injury as a major public health prob lem worldwide, it has received limited attention and resources. This l ack of attention is most notable in low-income countries. As part of e fforts to develop coordinated injury control activities in Africa, a r ound table session was held at the Third International Conference on I njury Prevention and Control in Melbourne, Australia. The aims of the forum were to provide injury control researchers from Africa the oppor tunity to come together and reflect on issues of injury control in Afr ica, to deliberate on strategies of getting African governments to sho w more interest in injury control, and to solicit more assistance from the international donor community Participants from Ghana, Kenya, Sou th Africa and Zimbabwe presented the magnitude of the injury burden in their respective countries, reflected on current research efforts and highlighted the preventive efforts being undertaken. The forum made m any recommendations including several regarding specific actions requi red of African governments, individual researchers and donor agencies.