U.Ganchimeg*, D. Davaalkham, O. Chimedsuren, D. Amarsaikhan

Health Sciences University of Mongolia

In Mongolia, deaths due to injury, poisoning and other consequences of external causes have been steadily increasing during the last decades for both adults and children and have become the leading causes of death. For instance, compared to 1996 the incidence has increased from 274.6 to 409.1 per 10,000 population, whereas the mortality has increased by more than 80% resulting in rate of 11.69 per 10,000 population in 2007. Incidence for children has been reported to be 297.09 per 10,000 population. In respect to mortality, injuries and poisoning are the first and second leading causes of death among children under -five in urban (14.2 per 1000 live births) and rural (16.3 per 1000 live births) areas, respectively.  

National Program on Prevention of Injuries has been implemented since its adoption in 2002 under the Resolution No. 156 of Government of Mongolia. Nevertheless, morbidity due to injuries and deaths caused by injuries are not decreasing, but on the contrary, they have been increasing.There have been no comprehensive surveys except some reviews that used statistical data on injury and poisoning in Mongolia:

Two reviews “Injuries in Mongolia, 1998-2002” and “Injuries in Mongolia, 2003-2004” were conducted in 2003 and 2006, respectively. These reviews summarized statistical data of 1998-2002 and 2003-2004 on morbidity and mortality of injury, poisoning and external causes among adults and children.

Another review “The present situation of child injuries, 2003-2005 years” has been conducted in 2007, analyzing data on child injuries between 2003 and 2005: situation of child injuries was clarified and subsequent recommendation of prevention of child injuries were developed based on child injury related record and archived documents of the Trauma and Orthopedic National Research Centre and the Maternal and Child Health Research Centre.

In the absence of a comprehensive system of injury prevention management, training and research, insufficient knowledge and attitudes of general population on injury prevention, insufficient involvement and responsibilities of organizations, business entities and individuals in these issues, and poor availability and quality of injury medical care; the following problems are seen to emerge:

-       Injury had become one of the leading causes of child and adolescent morbidity and mortality

-       Children and adolescent are increasingly at high risk of dying, becoming disabled or handicapped due to injury

-       Injury leads to increased economical losses to individuals and society at whole.

The points mentioned above show the increasing importance of injury survey that will provide evidence-based information and the necessity of injury prevention as the public health issue which should be urgently addressed.