American injury prevention pioneers discuss major accomplishments and disappointments in trying to create an injury prevention field

Thirty-six pioneers in the injury prevention field responded to questions  about the major accomplishments and failures of their profession since the publication of Injury in America in 1985.  Much has been accomplished.  Indeed, it is difficult to believe that before the 1990s there was no federal agency focused on preventing fall injuries, drownings, sport concussions or bullying in schools.  There was no readily available surveillance data on fatal injuries, no national associations of injury researchers or practitioners, no APHA injury section, and few injury journals.  Hardly anyone wore seat belts, and virtually no cigarettes were fire-safe.  Sadly, there has  been limited success at limiting firearm and overdose deaths as injury prevention remains a step-child in the health field, with funding not nearly commensurate to the size of the problem.  Training in effective advocacy has been proposed both to help attract funding and to reduce injuries.  The article, “Building the injury field in North America: the perspective of some of the pioneers” by David Hemenway appears in Injury Epidemiology 2018 5:47.