Citation

Levas MN. Inj. Epidemiol. 2021; 8(Suppl 1): e48.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, The author(s), Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s40621-021-00340-y

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

For the first time in this readership's history, we can all claim a shared global experience- COVID-19. Since early 2020, the world has been in the clutches of a pandemic that has claimed many lives, crippled economies, and brought health care systems to their knees. For many of us, the challenges have been daunting as health care priorities have shifted and many are forced to re-imagine what the future of health care and injury prevention will look like.

The pandemic has both impacted the epidemiology of childhood injury and has uncovered health care disparities in childhood injury. Despite stay-at-home orders and many policies limiting how frequently youth were encouraged to be active or gather (school closures, sport cancellations), unintentional injury mortality as well as intentional injury mortality (particularly through gun violence) have increased during the pandemic.(Sutherland et al., 2021; Ahmad & Anderson, 2021) For 26 years, the Injury Free Coalition for Kids® has been among one of the most effective injury prevention programs in the country. Our 30 member hospitals have continued research, education, and advocacy efforts despite the pandemic with one goal in mind: to prevent injury to children.

In this issue, the Injury Free Coalition for Kids® annual meeting supplement in Injury Epidemiology, the reader will get a glimpse of the continuing injury prevention efforts occurring nationally.

Language: en