Abstract
Abstract
The Karachi city\\\'s Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Center (RTIRPC), collects Road Traffic Crash (RTC) data on injuries and fatalities from three major public and private hospitals\\\' emergency departments. In the year 2015, 1021 deaths were recorded; with 871 (85.3%) deaths in males. Cumulatively, 286 (28.0%) deaths were recorded in the 21-30year age group, and for 198 (19.4%) RTC fatal victims, the primary vehicle involved was motorbike. Highest number of fatalities were recorded in the month of January i.e. 153 (15.0%), while the lowest number was recorded for June, with 47 (4.6%) fatalities. RTIRPC is a unique surveillance system in Pakistan providing RTC morbidity and mortality burden and trends in the city that needs to be expanded in Karachi, and extended throughout the country to better choreograph preventive measures including health promotion campaigns.
Keywords: Road Traffic Fatalities, Surveillance, Karachi, Pakistan.
Introduction
Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) are one of the leading causes of injuries and deaths globally.1,2 In 2013, RTCs were responsible for 1.25 million deaths in
the world.2 The World Health Organization has estimated that in the year 2013, there were 17.4 RTC deaths, per 100,000 population, globally.2 For Pakistan, the estimated rate was 14.2 RTC deaths per 100,000 population; and that there were 25,781 (95% CI: 20,979-30,582) RTC deaths in 2013, based on WHO\\\'s estimate for Pakistan.2 The \\\'Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Center\\\' (RTIRPC) is a road traffic injury and death surveillance programme, that has been operational since 2006, in Karachi.3,4 Using the RTIRPC data for the five-year period from September 2006 to August 2011, a total of 5,753 RTC deaths were reported.5 Other studies using the RTIRPC data have provided detailed descriptive epidemiological profile of RTC fatalities in Karachi, for the subsequent years. A study based on mortality data from RTIRPC reported 1130 deaths in the year 2013.6 Another study using RTIRPC data for the years 2007 to 2014, reported 9129 fatalities during this eight-year period.7 In this study, we provide descriptive epidemiology of RTC fatalities in Karachi for the year 2015, using the RTIRPC data.
Methods and Results
Since September 2006, Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Center (RTIRPC) has been operating in Karachi. It is financed by community and corporate donors to study road traffic crashes (RTCs) in the largest city of the country. Now in its twelfth year; the RTC surveillance project is a collaboration between Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Aga Khan University Hospital, NED University of Engineering & Technology, and the Corporation of the City of Karachi. For the year 2015, RTIRCP collected RTC data from the emergency departments of three major public hospitals in the city: Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center