National burden of road traffic injuries in Argentina

More than 1.2 million people die and as many as 50 million people are injured or disabled due to road traffic injuries (RTIs) every year worldwide. The lack of reliable data hinders efforts to describe the characteristics of the issue and prioritise prevention activities. The objective was to provide a snapshot of fatal and non-fatal RTI in Argentina. We used the methodology proposed by the Global Burden of Disease Injury Expert group. External causes of deaths with unknown codes were proportionately redistributed over the known categories. In 2007 in Argentina, we estimated 5915 RTI deaths, compared with 3983 RTI deaths reported previously by the Ministry of Health, accounting for 1931 additional cases. The highest number of deaths occurred in young men (15-29 years old), although the highest RTI death rates were in the age group of 55 years and older. Four-wheeled vehicle occupants were the most common road user type killed (59.1%); vulnerable road users represented one third (29.5%) of deaths and 64% of non-fatal RTI. The national and regional estimates of RTI in Argentina should help policy makers and public-health researchers to understand the importance of RTI prevention and design specific interventions to further reduce these preventable deaths and injuries.