Why is Injury Prevention important?
Unintentional Injury is the leading cause of death and disability in people ages one to 44. Many injuries are preventable and are not accidents. We can predict when, how and why they occur and therefore can work to prevent them.

How do we work to prevent injuries?
Injuries can be prevented through several avenues including policy and environmental change, research on best practices, dissemination of those through program implementation and evaluation and expansion of education about injury prevention. Data is collected locally, statewide and nationally to help identify injury issues and causal factors.

There are two types of injuries: those that occur unintentionally and those that are intentionally inflicted on ones self or another person. Examples of both instances are:

• Unintentional (pedal cycle, pedestrian, motor vehicle, poison, choking/suffocation, cut/pierce, bite/sting, fire arm, fire, drowning)
• Intentional (suicide, homicide, poison, fire arm)