“Each of these deaths is tragic, but hundreds of thousands more victims survive, often suffering lifelong disabilities,” the WHO director said at the conference themed “Accelerating Cooperation to Save Lives.”

The annual number of injury-related fatalities in the Asia-Pacific amounted to more than 11 percent of all regional deaths and 54 percent of the global injury burden, the report said.

The report noted that the injury burden in the Asia Pacific took a particularly high toll on the young, with more than 27 percent of those who died from injuries and violence under the age of 15.

In Vietnam, 25 percent of all reported deaths are from injuries, almost double the amount of deaths from communicable disease, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

An estimated 33,000 deaths in Vietnam are attributed to injury and violence each year, with a further 847,000 serious injuries, the ministry said, noting that road traffic injuries (50 percent), drowning (20 percent), suicides (10 percent) and occupational injuries (5 percent) are leading causes of injury and violent death in the country.

“Most injuries and violence are a preventable public health issue and by increasing our efforts and attention towards prevention strategies, many of these heartbreaking outcomes could be avoided,” Dr. Omi said.

The costs of injury and violence to the health sector and society at large are estimated at billions of US dollars each year.

“The majority of the burden falls on the most vulnerable groups - the elderly, the socially and economically disadvantaged, and especially on children,” said Jesper Morch, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative to Vietnam.

“Injuries at the moment represent a major risk to the survival and development of children, and could seriously impact the tremendous progress Vietnam has made in reducing infant and child mortality rates,” he said. “Injuries and violence also place increasing demands on already overstretched health systems. The priority must be to strengthen primary prevention efforts.”

The three-day conference, organized by WHO, UNICEF, and the Ministry of Health, will identify long-term policy solutions and practices for injury and violence prevention as well as strategic development plans for good public health practices in the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide.

Reported by Bao Anh