Around the world, 5.8 million people die each year from injuries.
Doctor Etienne Krug from the WHO (World Health Organisation) is in New Zealand for an international conference, and says an injury can result from a number of different causes.
“Injuries are all these things that result from trauma and often end up in the emergency department or morgue,” he says. So it’s burns, drowning, road traffic crashes resulting in injuries, as well as different forms of violence.”
Mr Krug says that around 25 percent of injuries around the world are sustained in traffic accidents.
“Globally, from the 5.8 million injury deaths, about a quarter are due to world traffic crashes. The other quarter are from violence, and then the rest are drowning, burns, falls, etcetera.”
He says that while war receives a lot of attention, it actually only accounts for a small portion of deaths by violence.
Watch the video for Firstline’s full interview with Etienne Krug
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