title: The burden of occupational injury: a 1-year prospective study in Xuan Tien Commune, Viet Nam.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Developing nations carry a substantial portion of the global burden of injury, but without reliable injury surveillance, there is no way to characterize or prioritize the causes of work-related injury for prevention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Injury data from 52 treatment sites in the Xuan Tien Commune, Vietnam with over 10,000 inhabitants were collected between January 1 and December 31, 2006. Injured residents were interviewed to determine work-relatedness, relevant causes, disability, and burden.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five hundred four work-related injuries were reported from formal treatment sites (incidence rate of 87 per 1,000 FTE) with a mean lost work day of 11 days. Four thousand five hundred seventy-four lost work day equivalents were estimated based on actual days lost to recover plus work days lost earning income to pay for medical costs, accumulating a total direct burden to the community of 8,641 lost work day equivalents. Almost half of that burden was caused by work in manufacturing. First aid boxes placed in 40 manufacturing enterprises yielded the 2nd highest reporting source.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated the feasibility and value at the local level to build an active injury surveillance system which could have a large impact on preventing the burden of injuries in workplaces in Vietnam.
authors.affiliation: Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts 01748, USA. helen.wellman@libertymutual.com
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Marucci-Wellman
authors.forename: Tom B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Leamon
authors.forename: Ta Thi Tuyet
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Binh
authors.forename: Nguyen Bich
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Diep
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Wegman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kriebel
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000383:Agriculture; D003153:Community Health Services; D003906:Developing Countries; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology