Injury and violence: undertaught and overdue in public health education

Injuries and violence remain leading causes of death for Americans, yet undergraduate public health education programmes continue to offer few courses in injury and violence epidemiology and prevention (IVEP). We assessed current IVEP course offerings at 146 US undergraduate public health programmes through catalogue searches and programme contacts. Among the 114 responding programmes, 46 (40%) confirmed at least one relevant course, though many were not offered regularly due to limited faculty expertise and/or low perceived student interest. Course content varied, with many focusing solely on violence. The limited offering of IVEP coursework contrasts with the substantial burden of injuries and violence. Strengthening IVEP education requires increasing student engagement, integrating relevant content across core curricula areas and expanding faculty capacity to teach relevant courses. Without such efforts, the public health workforce will remain insufficiently prepared to address injury and violence.