title: International disparities in trauma care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Trauma care has been a low priority topic in the global health agenda until recently, despite its social and economic impact. Although prevention is the key, provision and quality of trauma care has been the weakest link in the survival chain. We aim to summarize the differences in global trauma care to propose solutions in this article.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with life-threatening injuries are six times more likely to die following a trauma in a low-income country than in a high-income country. Unintentional injuries currently rank fourth in the global causes of death, resulting in 5.8 million premature deaths and millions more with disability. The WHO member countries started the first global Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 initiative in May 2011. Governments across the world agreed to take steps to improve the safety of roads and vehicles, enhance the behavior of all road users and strengthen post-trauma care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Several core strategies have been identified: human resource planning; physical resources (equipment and supplies); and administration (quality improvement and data collection) need to be developed for effective and adaptable prehospital care, patient transfer, in-hospital care and rehabilitation systems for injured persons worldwide. Clear definition of the problem to propose solutions is critical.
authors: aDepartment of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Department of Orthopaedics and Sport Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington bDivision of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery, University of Pennsylvania cAnesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors: Armagan
authors: A
authors: Dagal
authors: Sarah E
authors: SE
authors: Greer
authors: Maureen
authors: M
authors: McCunn
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*