Addressing the socioeconomic safety divide: a policy briefing

ABSTRACT

Injury and violence are a leading cause of death and disability in the WHO European Region.Wealth is a major determinant of health, and there is a steep social gradient of ill health due toinjuries and violence. People in low- and middle-income countries and more deprived people inhigh-income countries are worse off. Social and economic policies affect families’ susceptibility toinjury by affecting social and physical environments. This policy briefing summarizes evidence onthe socioeconomic safety divide from a large systematic review. It then provides messages for policy-makers, researchers and public health advocates and safety planners on what can be done toaddress this safety divide. Action for preventing injury and violence needs to be intersectoral.Governments need to aim for equity across all types of government policies to address the unevendistribution of injuries. Action needs to be taken both to reduce injuries and violence universally in the population using passive interventions to make the social and physical environmentinherently safer and to target disadvantaged populations. Addressing this important cause ofinequity in health is a matter of social justice.