Editorial

This special issue is focusing on developments within the European region with regards to injury prevention. The papers in this issue spring from the second European Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion held on 9–10 October 2008 in Paris.

In recent years injuries have gained increasing recognition as important health and consumer protection issues. Gains in political commitment are evidenced by the adoption of important policy documents at the regional and country levels, and a growing support for exchange and network development. Examples of the latter are the successful series of World Conferences on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion and the series of European conventions, now called European Conferences, organized by the European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion – EuroSafe.

For the European Region, two major policy document were instrumental in enhance injury prevention actions in countries in Europe:

	the Recommendation on the Prevention of Injuries and the Promotion of Safety adopted by the Council of the European Union on 31 May 2007 and
	the WHO-Euro Regional Committee Resolution on the Prevention of Injuries in the WHO European region (WHO Regional Committee for Europe, 2005).

More countries than ever are working to improve their surveillance systems, to prevent injuries, and to exchange experiences and evidence based practices. These achievements are the fruit of a maturing injury prevention field, which has articulated prevention frameworks and fought for greater visibility of these important health concerns.

Despite these promising gains, the urgency and magnitude of the problem has not yet been met with the depth and breadth of response it requires. For instance in the European Union region of 27 member states, accidents and injuries are still the fourth leading cause of deaths, killing 250,000 people. In addition an estimated seven million European citizens are admitted to hospital each year as a consequence of an injury [3].

The healthcare burden of injury in the EU is estimated at approximately 15 billion Euros per year related to the direct medical care delivered in hospitals (Bauer et al., 2007; Polinder et al., 2008).

The risk of death and severe injury is particularly high in settings as home and leisure and in road traffic (Bauer et al., 2007). The burden of injury is unequally distributed across the European region. Also within countries there are marked differences, with economically and socially vulnerable groups being at greater risk (WHO European Region Office, 2009).

We can be more effective in reducing the huge toll of accidents and injuries to society because:

	there is ample evidence of proven effectiveness in prevention measures that are still not yet widely applied throughout the European region: injuries can be prevented;
	most of these measures have also been proven to be cost effective, and the benefits of preventing injuries often outsize the cost of safety measures to 10 times; and
	because even in countries with a good track record with respect to safety, there remain ample opportunities for further improvements and health gains to be achieved, as too often injury risks are unevenly distributed and affect, in particular, poorer communities.

The papers in this special issue give us insight in the work done in the European region in improving the availability of injury data, identifying major risk factors and integrating injury prevention in national policies. It provide a snapshot of the continuous struggle to work within limited resources and in a field of fragmented interests. It highlights the importance of international and regional exchange in order to make the best use of scarce resources and to ensure consistency in policies and prevention effectiveness.

If we want to be successful, we need to pull our forces together to champion the cause of safety promotion and injury prevention and create sustainable international collaborations among the various safety sectors and stakeholders. This is essential because nowadays decisions on safety policies and safety measures are being taken more and more within international context. For the European countries it is in particular the European Union context that provides new challenges and opportunities for making a safer Europe.