Project

2012 Project is the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Injury and Violence: Important Public Health Issues

We all know someone whose life has been affected by injury or violence: A child who was killed in a car crash. A friend who lost a loved one to suicide. An older relative who fell and fractured a hip.

Injuries and violence affect everyone, regardless of age, race, or economic status. For Americans 1 to 44 years of age, injuries are the number-one killer. In fact, people in that age group are more likely to die from an injury—such as a motor vehicle crash, fall, or homicide—than from any other cause, including cancer, HIV, and the flu.

CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Injury Center) is committed to saving lives and protecting our nation from injuries and violence. The Injury Center is the only U.S. federal agency that deals exclusively with injury and violence prevention in non-occupational settings. It leads a coordinated public health approach to tackling this critical health and safety issue. The Center’s work is guided by the belief that everyone should have access to the best information and resources to help them live life to its fullest potential.

CDC’s Injury Center is committed to continuing its work to prevent injuries and violence. Prevention is the most effective, common-sense way to improve health and lower societal costs of medical care and loss of work related to injuries and violence. Our priority is to equip states and the District of Columbia, local communities, and partner organizations with the best science to inform programs and policies so that they can take effective action to save lives and protect people from injuries and violence.

Digital Strategies and Challenges in Health Communication

The CDC website is one of the world’s most credible sites for information on heath topics and diseases with an average of 50-70 million visitors per month. CDC’s Injury Center has multiple subdomains that are part of the overall CDC.gov web site.

The Injury Center’s 12 topical and campaign subdomains average over 600,000 visitors per month and consist of:

In addition, the Injury Center has been a leader in public health social media with three Facebook pages, a Twitter profile, an RSS Feed and News Widget, a blog, podcasts, over 60,000 email subscribers, and more.

The content for the web site is created collaboratively with some of the top scientists in the fields of injury and violence prevention and control, health communication specialists, and web developers.

The CDC Injury Center’s primary strengths include:

  • Strong brand awareness, scientific authority, and trustworthy reputation as part of the CDC
  • Technical backing of the CDC, which allows us to piggy back on the efforts of the entire organization

Challenges and opportunities include:

  • Appealing to multiple audiences: policymakers, public health practitioners, and the general public
  • Integrating and leveraging new and social media
  • Working within the constraints of rigorous scientific clearance in a medium that wants up-to-the-minute information
  • Innovating under governmental guidelines and mandates such as 508 compliance and strict technical and legal clearances
  • Using plain language while maintaining scientific accuracy (e.g. child abuse vs. child maltreatment)
  • Maintaining consistency and cohesion and leveraging opportunities for collaboration and cross-promotion among the disparate topics in injury and violence prevention
  • Overcoming the societal concept that injuries are often the result of accidents that cannot be prevented; therefore, people often are looking for how to treat an injury rather than prevent one.

We look forward to discussing these strategies and challenges with you in the next Tufts Summer Institute on Digital Strategies for Health Communication!

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