Injury Prevention Program

The safety of New Mexicans is our priority.

Injuries are the leading cause of death among people ages 1 to 44 in New Mexico. Each day an average of 5 people die from injuries, another 40 are hospitalized due to injuries, more than 700 are seen in emergency departments, and more than 2,000 visit other health care facilities for treatment of their injuries.

Injuries can be intentional or unintentional. Intentional injuries are inflicted by people on others--usually through violence. Domestic violence, sexual assault, and gun violence are all intentional injuries with a victimizer and a victim. Examples of unintended injuries include motor vehicle crashes, poisoning (from legal and illegal drugs), and falls (usually associated with the older population).

Injuries exact a tremendous toll on our state’s families and our state’s resources. The financial cost of injury amounts to more than $4 billion a year in New Mexico, and the emotional costs are impossible to measure. The only greater tragedy than the pain and suffering caused by injuries is that most are preventable. The Department of Health is working to reduce them by:

Monitoring injury data to inform and guide prevention efforts
Supporting coalitions, partnerships and professionals
Providing technical assistance on public education strategies
Promoting evidence-based policies for injury prevention
Evaluating the effectiveness of injury prevention activities

The Office of Injury Prevention is part of the Injury & Behavioral Epidemiology Bureau and the Epidemiology and Response Division. The Bureau is committed to all aspects of injury prevention including surveillance, analysis of data, reporting, dissemination of reports on injury, and promotion of evidence-based policies and programs.

For information about the Office of Injury Prevention please contact the members of the Prevention and Epidemiology team (noted on the menu bar on the right under “Injury Prevention”).