Of the 5 million unnatural deaths in the year 2000, 1.26
million resulted from traffic accidents according to a
special report by the World Health Organization.
Some 90 percent of the fatalities were tied to accidents of
one kind or another, primarily in the Third World. The
mortality stemming from violent events is much higher in
newly independent countries in Europe and comparatively low
in North America, Western Europe, Australia and New
Zealand.
Incidents of trauma can be either unintentional, such as
traffic accidents, drowning and falling, or intentional, such
as those resulting from acts of aggression, suicide or war.
After traffic accidents and suicide, the next most common
causes of death are murder (520,000), drowning (450,000),
alcoholism (315,000), war and various other conflicts
(310,000), falling (283,000) and fire-related deaths
(238,000).
Twice as many men as women are killed by trauma incidents.
The gap widens even further in the case of traffic accidents,
which cause the deaths of three times as many men as
women.
While the number of deaths as a result of traffic accidents,
fires and drowning is particularly high in Africa and Asia,
the number of fatalities as a result of falling is higher in
Western Europe.
WHO Director-General Garo Harlem Brundtland said the number
of trauma incidents resulting in death or disability can lead
to increased poverty. "From an economic standpoint alone,"
she says, "the costs associated with surgical procedures,
extended hospitalization and long-term rehabilitation of the
victims of incidents of trauma and violence, not to speak of
the loss of manpower generated, come to hundreds of billions
of dollars annually."
According to a report published in Israel by an organization
called BeTerem, 200 children die in Israel every year due to
accidents, not necessarily traffic accidents, and 180,000 are
taken to emergency rooms. Of the children harmed in accidents
during 2000-2001, 23 percent were injured in traffic
accidents--1979 Jewish children and 879 non-Jewish
children.
