State Injury & Violence Prevention Programs
State injury and violence prevention programs have achieved impressive results with limited resources, as the public health approach allows practitioners to extend the benefits of prevention not just to individuals, but to entire communities and populations.
Safe States Alliance has defined five core components that are crucial to the development, growth, and sustainability of state injury and violence prevention programs.[1] Each component requires efforts of collaboration and coordination, which are essential to every aspect of an injury and violence prevention program. The five components are:
- Build a solid infrastructure for injury and violence prevention;
- Collect and analyze injury and violence data;
- Design, implement, and evaluate programs;
- Provide technical support and training; and
- Affect public policy.
When all five components are in place and functioning well, a program is equipped to reduce injury and violence. The extent to which state injury and violence prevention programs are able to operationalize the five components varies by injury problem and can be affected by funding constraints, staff skill sets, organizational support, and effective partnerships.
A comprehensive injury and violence prevention program at the state health department provides focus and direction, coordinates and finds common ground among the many prevention partners, and makes the best use of limited injury and violence prevention resources. A state health department injury and violence prevention program grounded in a public health approach and attuned to the five core components is best positioned for this challenge.
While a variety of areas and sections of the state health department and agencies/ organizations outside of the health department need to be involved in preventing injuries and violence, this potential is strengthened when a focal point within the state health department is designated to serve as the lead for a state’s injury and violence prevention issues.
Despite the enormous toll of injury and violence, dedicated and ongoing federal or state funding to respond to these problems does not exist as it does for other major public health priorities. Injury and violence prevention programs are left to piece together funding from multiple sources and face the instability that comes from being dependent on grant cycles. But with adequate resources, these programs are well positioned to put proven prevention strategies into practice. These efforts can and do save lives and reduce the economic burden of injury in communities, states, and the nation.
By applying the public health model, state injury and violence prevention programs can understand the underlying causes of injuries; take actions that prevent these causes; and collectively, make significant progress in the reduction of injury deaths and disability in each state and the nation.
[1] Safe States Alliance. Safe States, 2003 Edition. Atlanta (GA): State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association; 2003.
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