title: It all started in Falköping, Sweden: Safe Communities - global thinking and local action for safety.
abstract: After constructing the Safe Community model and applying it in Falköping Municipality, Sweden, a first step was taken to establish a Swedish network for knowledge exchange between Safe Communities. Falköping was the first to be involved, and was then joined by Lidköping and Motala. Later, there followed Harstad in Norway, and some communities in Australia. Criteria were developed to define the concept operationally. In 1986, collaboration was embarked upon with the World Health Organization, and since 1991 there have been annual conferences on Safe Communities. Many academic centres around the world are now involved. Certification of communities started in 1989, and 272 communities have now been designated as a Safe Community (20 February 2011). The regional organisations, especially the Asian and European networks, embrace more than half of the designated communities. A global organisation has been considered, but the strength of the movement lies in local engagement and regional networking.
authors: Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Social Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. leif.svanstrom@ki.se
authors: Leif
authors: L
authors: Svanström
mesh_terms: D002568:Certification; D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D017146:Models, Organizational; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013548:Sweden