Motor vehicle crashes, falls, suicides, drowning, youth violence. These are just a few examples from a growing area in public health, which can be summarized in one word—Injuries. Although this word does describe these various occurrences, the field of injury prevention and control is extremely broad and complex with different sub categories and prevention approaches. Due to extensive research that has been done within the field of injury prevention and control, it has been proven that injuries are similar to diseases, in that injuries are not accidents, do not occur at random, and have identified risk and protective factors making them preventable.

Injuries take a major toll, not only to an individual, but also to the society. While many injuries are defined by mortality rates, injuries also can impair overall health- causing life- long disabilities, psychological effects, and detriment to a person’s overall well being. Additionally, monetary costs arise from medical expenses, police and fire services, property damage, and wage losses.

Comprehensive approaches combining policy implementation, environmental changes, as well as health education are needed in order to effectively prevent injuries. Furthermore, many disciplines, from health educators, to engineers, to policy makers, must work together marrying their expertise to protect the public from the consequences caused by injuries.

The SOPHE injury prevention website is designed to strengthen the connection between behavioral science and health education with more comprehensive approaches to unintentional injury and violence prevention.