Injury control: a state-of-the-art review.

There is a growing body of new knowledge suggesting that trauma should no longer be conceptualized as a behavioural phenomenon with the associated connotations of chance, unexpectedness and blame worthiness. Instead, it should be regarded as a public health problem amenable to scientific, research-based strategies of the type that have been successfully introduced in the fight to conquer infectious disease. If progress is to be made in reducing the toll of accidental mortality and morbidity, the current need is for the increased allocation of resources to develop, extend and disseminate this new knowledge.