SPRING 2006 IN AFRICA | ABSTRACTS & REPORTS | EVENTS | PHOTOS |

Aiming for Prevention
Spring 2006 participation in activities and events in Africa

Aiming for Prevention affiliates have been traveling the globe recently to bring our message to the health community, the public and policy makers that gun violence is bad for health, and to press for public policy changes to address this international health crisis.

Nineteen affiliate member physicians and medical students from eleven countries participated in three important events in March and April of 2006. We had a strong presence at the 8th World Injury Conference "Data to Action", the major international public health conference on injury prevention, and co-sponsored and participated in planning for its pre-conference "Driving Change: Firearms Policy for Safer Societies" in South Africa in April. We also planned and conducted a March training program in Nairobi, Kenya for physicians from five African countries who are participating in an IPPNW-sponsored multinational hospital-based research pilot study on injury due to firearm violence.

Our Public Health Network medical Director Robert Mtonga MD from Zambia also participated in a meeting convened by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs just prior to these events, that focused on small arms and development, in preparation for the UN Programme of Action (UNPoA) on Small Arms and Light Weapons Review Conference upcoming in June/July in New York City, at which Aiming for Prevention will again have a presence to bring the health message to this important international body.

For event and conference highlights, photos, and reports, please click on the links above.

For more information on IPPNW's Aiming for Prevention campaign, contact coordinator Maria Valenti in the IPPNW Central Office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

posted April 27, 2006

IPPNW's "Aiming for Prevention" program is currently supported by grants from the Human Security Program at Foreign Affairs Canada.