More than six million people die from traumatic injuries annually across the world, the Nigerian Orthopaedic Association stated in Ilorin on Saturday.
Prof. Kunle Olawepo, President of the association and also Chairman, Nigeria Medical Association’s (NMA), Committee on Road Safety and Trauma Services made the declaration in a statement issued to commemorate World Trauma Day 2021.
The World Trauma Day is celebrated annually on Oct. 17.
“Annually more than six million people die from traumatic injuries; more than 80 per cent of these are attributable to road traffic crashes.
“This contributes more deaths than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined,’’ he stated.
He observed that the Day highlighted increasing rate of accidents and injury- causing deaths and disabilities across the world and the need to prevent them.
“The Day was first celebrated in New Delhi in 2011 by the WHO.
“Trauma is broadly divided into physical and emotional trauma.
“Therefore, it can be defined as either physical injury to a living tissue caused by external force (physical harm) or an emotional (psychological) distress in response to an unpleasant situation,’’ he stated.
Olawepo noted that physical trauma usually arose from road traffic accidents, plane crashes, boat and ship wreckages.
Others, he added, included fire outbreaks flooding, building collapses, earth quakes, banditry, militancy, kidnapping, insurgency, terrorism, civil strife and wars among others.
He stated also that road traffic accidents globally led in deaths and disabilities in all types of trauma.
He added that mortality arising from wars was put at about 24,000 in 2014, while between 50 million and 60 million people were displaced during the Second World War.
“Estimated deaths from Boko Haram terrorism and insurgency alone is put at an average of 1,000 per year in the last three years,’’ he said.
He listed effect of trauma to include deformities, emotional responses such as persistent difficulty in sleeping as well as economic impact on the society, among others.
Olawepo appealed to government to provide safe roads for land travels and to renovate and implement alternative means of travel, especially rail transportation.
He also called on the monitoring, evaluation and enforcement of traffic laws and regulation to include aviation and maritime travels.
