The legal framework and initiatives for promoting safety in the United Arab Emirates.
Injury is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE is a rapidly developing country with fast economic growth, demographical and environmental changes that are associated with new hazards emerging at a similar pace. The UAE as a federal entity has federal and local systems responsible for safety policy, regulations and enforcement. To set priorities for safety promotion and injury prevention, it is necessary to have data on the most frequent external causes of injury and the main individual, equipment and environmental risk factors that contribute to injury. However good quality data for injury prevention are scarce. The aim of this paper is to describe the scale of injury as a public health problem in the UAE, and the development of safety policies, regulations and promotion efforts with special emphasis on traffic, occupational and child safety.
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. m.grivna@uaeu.ac.ae
Michal
M
Grivna
Tar-Ching
TC
Aw
Mohamed
M
El-Sadig
Tom
T
Loney
Amer Ahmad
AA
Sharif
Jens
J
Thomsen
Mariam
M
Mauzi
Fikri M
FM
Abu-Zidan
D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control; D000293:Adolescent; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012449:Safety / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology