Experts in the field of trauma care and allied specialities from nearly 30 countries will gather here later this month for a global conference to devise strategies to prevent and control death from injuries on the rise in developing nations, including India.
According to a recent WHO report, by 2020, trauma will be the third largest killer in the developing world.
Hosted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the "World Trauma Congress 2016" will be held from August 17 to 20.
"Perhaps, for the first time a conference of this nature and scale will be convened in Delhi, with several trauma societies participating from across the world. It also assumes significance since death due to trauma and injuries are on the rise in developing countries like India," Director, AIIMS, M C Misra, told PTI.
The congress is being co-hosted by the Indian Society for Trauma and Acute Care (ISTAC) and the World Coalition for Trauma Care (WCTC).
"It will be held at the Vigyan Bhawan and participants from nearly 30 countries are converging here for the event. The registrations will begin from August 17, but prior to that we will have hand-holding workshops from August 15-17," a top official of AIIMS said.
According to ISTAC, injury and trauma are steadily increasing in third world countries and becoming a major public health issue. Also, one trauma-related death occurs in India every 1.9 minutes, it said.
Misra, who is also the President of ISTAC and Chief of JPN Apex Trauma Centre, says, "Fatalities due to injuries and trauma, exceed deaths due to heart diseases and cancer, put together."
"The majority of victims in fatal road-traffic accidents are pedestrians, two-wheeler riders and cyclists," says ISTAC.
Quoting from the National Crime Records Bureau data for 2014, the AIIMS director said, out of the total accidental deaths that year, over 37 per cent were due to traffic accidents.
As per the NCRB data, 4,51,757 accidental deaths (includes those caused by natural or man-made disasters) were reported in the country during 2014, marking an increase of 12.8 per cent over 2013.
As per ISTAC, which has been actively involved in advancing the knowledge in the field of trauma and acute care through education and research over the years, fatalities from serious injuries are much more in developing countries like India than developed nations.
"The main objective of the congress is to exchange ideas,
experiences and lessons learned about the role of globally accepted systems and protocols in the field of trauma care, mass causality incidents, and disasters," the organisers said.
"This meeting will enlighten us regarding issues pertaining to trauma systems, trauma surgery, trauma critical care, trauma reconstructive surgery, disaster and military surgery, trauma nursing, rehabilitation, injury prevention as well as issues related to the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety (2011-2020)," they said.
The congress will also include various pre-conference trauma and critical care-related courses.
Misra said, at the end of this global congress, our aim would be to shape strategies that could help prevent and control death from injuries.
According to the UN, road traffic deaths and injuries are a major health and development concern.
WHO's Global status report on road safety 2015 indicates that worldwide, the number of road traffic deaths has plateaued at 1.25 million per year, with the highest road traffic fatality rates in low income countries.
In the last three years, 17 countries have aligned at least one of their laws with best practices on the key risk factors, it says.
While there has been progress towards improving road safety legislations and enhancing vehicle safety, the report shows that the pace of change is too slow. Urgent action is needed to achieve the ambitious targets reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the report said.
