The burden of injury in South Africa: Fatal injury trends and international comparisons

Timely, accurate and reliable injury statistics are an important part of the public health approach to injury prevention. Unreliable statistics thwart efforts to monitor and respond to injury prevention and to assess the effectiveness of prevention initiatives. While most South Africans would concur that we have high incidences of injury and violence, official statistics do not explain the full extent of the problem. Police statistics do not describe in detail the causes or circumstances of homicide, and although statistics compiled by the Department of Transport do include considerable detail about injuries, deaths and costs as a result of collisions, there are still questions about the completeness of the information.