Capacity building in Injury Prevention in the Healthy Cities Association using TEACH-VIP materials

WHO Russia has held a round table on Capacity building  for Injury Prevention in the Healthy Cities Association based on the TEACH-VIP course. The event brought together the best experts from Copenhagen, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vologda, Dimitrovgrad, Stupino, Stavropol and Ivanovo.

The scale of the problem of injuries at the global and European region levels was highlighted in a presentation by Josephine Jackish, the representative of the Regional Office for Europe. Moreover , the most recent results of the Survey on the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences among young people in the Russian Federation (http://www.euro.who.int/en/countries/russian-federation/publications/survey-on-the-prevalence-of-adverse-childhood-experiences-among-young-people-in-the-russian-federation/_recache) were announced, demonstrating a high correlation between adverse childhood experiences and risky behavior in adolescence. Participants were introduced to the latest data of the research “Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC)” (http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/163857/Social-determinants-of-health-and-well-being-among-young-people.pdf?ua=1 ), which is a tool for monitoring and comparative evaluation of adolescents’ behavior.

A key priority of the seminar was to consider the prevention of injuries based on the approaches of the TEACH-VIP educational module for possible use of educational programs in Russian schools of public health. Participants also discussed the social determinants of health and recommendations adapting TEACH-VIP course by the Healthy Cities Association members.

Reports presented at the seminar contributed to the exchange of successful experience of intersectional collaboration of the participants in Russia on this topic and were described as highly relevant and informative. Great interest was aroused by the results of the WHO Project on Road Safety  RS-10 that was performed in 2010-2014 in the Ivanovo region (http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_traffic/countrywork/rus/en/ ). According to Vladimir Grishin, deputy chairman of the Ivanovo regional Duma and coordinator of the project, "the level of  safety belt use among drivers has shown a 40.2% increase during the campaign, the number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit decreased by 21.3%, while the number of deaths in road accidents declined 18.2% in 2013 compared to the same period of the previous year ", which means that the WHO approach proved to be highly efficient.

TEACH-VIP modules are an educational course dedicated to the prevention and control of injuries, developed with the participation of a global network of experts for different audiences (http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/capacitybuilding/teach_vip/en/ ).

The Healthy Cities Association  unites municipalities who support WHO initiative aimed at improving health, quality of life, social, economic, and physical environment of cities, districts, and rural settlements. (http://en.zdorovyegoroda.ru/). An increased interest of the Association is due to the special role of municipal authorities in prevention of injuries.