Description
E.G.D.N. Suraweera(1), Ruwan Ferdinando(2), Tamara Kalubowila(3)
1 Registrar in Community Medicine,2 Consultant Community Physician,
3 The Director, National Institute of Health Sciences, Kalutara,
Project Title: Safe City Project, Field Practice area, National Institute of Health Sciences, Kalutara, Sri Lanka)
Background: National Institute of Health Sciences(NIHS) is the National Center for Public Health Workforce Development in Sri Lanka. A field practice area of NIHS consists of two Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas, Kalutara and Beruwala. There were a large number of deaths, illnesses and disabilities due to acute injuries in both MOH areas according to injury surveillance data of Teaching Hospital Kalutara (THK).According to these data of THK, there have been 15607 admissions due to injuries during the year 2018. Among them 25.7% are transport injuries, 26.7% are due to falls and 12.13% are due to contact with objects. During the first six months of year 2019, 08 drowning deaths had been reported. (Quarterly RDHS return on injuries, NCD unit, District General Hospital Kalutara, 2019).
Objectives:
1. To develop a safety package focusing on safety from drowning, home accidents, Road Traffic Accidents (RTA), safety in disasters, safety in schools and workplaces.
2. To implement the developed safety package in Kalutara and Beruwala MOH areas to reduce morbidity and mortality due to acute NCDs in these areas.
Method: The main acute injuries which give more burden to the health sector and the community was identified. Problem analysis were done and root causes were identified. A safety package was developed in collaboration with multiple stakeholders and the guidance of relevant experts. (Representatives from National NCD unit, Education sector, Police department, Urban council, Road Development Authority, Coastal conservation Authority, Marine Environment Protection Authority, Irrigation Department, Disaster preparedness unit, Kalutara etc.) Main settings and activities were finalized with the guidance of experts and other stakeholders. Project proposal was sent to the WHO and the fund was received from Sri Lanka WHO country office from WHO biennium (2019-2020).
Main activities were focused to reduced morbidity and mortality from drowning, domestic injuries and RTAs and injuries at workplaces in the area.
Safety from drowning and RTA: identification of places with high risk and displaying bill boards and warning boards.
Conducting sessions to improve knowledge, attitudes and skills of mothers to empower them to prevent domestic injuries.
Safety at work places: Advocacy meetings were held to improve the responsibility of safety managers in injury prevention in work places.
Results: Impact of the project was assessed by the Directorate of Non-Communicable Diseases, Sri Lanka one year after finishing the project. Deaths from drowning was zero in the NIHS field practice area after implementing the project up to now. And there is significant reduction in reported acute injuries according to the injury surveillance data.
Conclusions and Recommendation: This projects provides objective evidence of the effectiveness of acute injury prevention at field level.
Keywords: Acute injuries, Safety package, safety from drowning, domestic safety, road safety
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