About CDC's Injury Center
In the United States, injury is the leading cause of death for children and adults between the ages of 1 and 45. Injuries and violence affect everyone—regardless of age, race, or economic status. The tragic deaths from injuries and violence tell only part of the story. Many more are injured and survive. Often, survivors are faced with life-long physical, mental, and financial problems.
Unintentional Injuries
Violence
- Adverse Childhood Experiences*
- Intimate partner or domestic violence
- Sexual violence
- Suicide*
- Youth violence
*Center priority area
The injury Center protects America’s health by:
TRACKING injuries and deaths to look for dangerous trends
Tracking systems, like the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), provide important data. For example, Alaska used NVDRS data to study veteran suicides and then partnered with the Alaska Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop prevention strategies, like expanding the current outreach program to enroll veterans in VA healthcare.
RESEARCHING the best ways to prevent injuries and violence
Creating Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)—public-private partnerships that invest resources into local services like street cleaning and public safety—in Los Angeles led to a 12% reduction in robberies and an 8% reduction in overall violent crime in BID neighborhoods.
DEVELOPING prevention strategies
Our HEADS UP campaign helps protect kids on and off the field by raising awareness about youth sports concussion and other serious brain injuries. After using one of the campaign’s toolkits, 77% of youth sports coaches reported they could more easily identify athletes who may have a concussion, and 72% reported educating other coaches, parents, and athletes.
EVALUATING effectiveness of prevention strategies
MV PICCS (Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States) is a free interactive calculator that helps state decision makers prioritize and select from 14 effective motor vehicle injury prevention interventions, based on their budget. MV PICCS calculates the expected number of injuries prevented, lives saved, and costs averted in the state./
SUPPORT states in implementing programs
We invested more than $50 million in 44 states and D.C. to support opioid overdose prevention. With that money and assistance from our scientists, states have strengthened their Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, improved their data tracking and reporting, and shared overdose data with healthcare providers and law enforcement.
We also support states in tackling other critical injury and violence problems, including providing funds and assistance to all 50 states to prevent sexual violence through our Rape Prevention and Education Program and to 23 states to address their most pressing issues through the Core State Violence and Injury Prevention Program.