GENEVA / SPINAL CORD INJURIES REPORT

As many as 500 000 people suffer a spinal cord injury each year. People with spinal cord injuries are two to five times more likely to die prematurely, with worse survival rates in low- and middle-income countries.
The new WHO report, International perspectives on spinal cord injuries, summarizes the best available evidence on the causes, prevention, care and lived experience of people with spinal cord injury. WHO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:42
• Production Date: 3 December 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - WHO
• Subject Topical: PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
• MAMS Id: U131203d

Description

STORY: GENEVA / SPINAL CORD INJURIES REPORT
TRT: 1.42
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

Shotlist

3 DECEMBER 2013 GENEVA SWITZERLAND

1. Close up, book front page
2. Close up, leafing through the book
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Injury and Violence Prevention Department, World Health Organization:
“International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury is a new WHO report, the first ever addressing the issue of spinal cord injury from a global public health perspective.
It shows that up to 500,000 people acquire spinal cord injury every year. The main causes of that are road traffic crashes, falls and violence.”

FILE, RECENT, TANZANIA

4. Various shots, woman in wheelchair

3 DECEMBER 2013 GENEVA SWITZERLAND

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Injury and Violence Prevention Department, World Health Organization:
“Right now, people with spinal cord injuries are two to five times more likely to die than others. But with the right pre-hospital car systems, with improvements in rehabilitation and access to wheelchairs and other assisted devices, we can prevent those premature deaths.”

FILE, RECENT, BOLIVIA

6. Med shot, pan right, boy pushing a woman in the wheelchair across the street

3 DECEMBER 2013 GENEVA SWITZERLAND

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Injury and Violence Prevention Department, World Health Organization:
“We can also make spinal cord injury more liveable, by reducing stigma and discrimination, providing access to employment, schooling, etc. to those who have been affected. And ensure that they can actively participate in their societies and their families’ life.”

FILE, RECENT, BOLIVIA

8. Med shot, pan left, boy and a woman in the wheelchair
9. Picture of a wheelchair on the wall

Storyline

As many as 500 000 people suffer a spinal cord injury each year. People with spinal cord injuries are two to five times more likely to die prematurely, with worse survival rates in low- and middle-income countries.

The new WHO report, International perspectives on spinal cord injuries, summarizes the best available evidence on the causes, prevention, care and lived experience of people with spinal cord injury.

Males are most at risk of spinal cord injury between the ages of 20-29 years and 70 years and older, while females are most at risk between the ages of 15-19 years and 60 years and older. Studies report male to female ratios of at least 2:1 among adults.

Up to 90% of spinal cord injury cases are due to traumatic causes such as road traffic crashes, falls and violence. Variations exist across regions. For example, road traffic crashes are the main contributor to spinal cord injury in the African Region (nearly 70% of cases) and the Western Pacific Region (55% of cases) and falls the leading cause in the South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean Regions (40% of cases). Non-traumatic spinal cord injury results from conditions such as tumors, spina bifida, and tuberculosis. A third of non-traumatic spinal cord injury is linked to tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most people with spinal cord injury experience chronic pain, and an estimated 20-30% show clinically significant signs of depression.

People with spinal cord injury also risk developing secondary conditions that can be debilitating and even life-threatening, such as deep vein thrombosis, urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers and respiratory complications.

Spinal cord injury is associated with lower rates of school enrollment and economic participation. Children with spinal cord injury are less likely than their peers to start school, and once enrolled, less likely to advance.

Adults with spinal cord injury face similar barriers to socio-economic participation, with a global unemployment rate of more than 60%. Spinal cord injury carries substantial individual and societal costs.

Many of the consequences associated with spinal cord injury do not result from the condition itself, but from inadequate medical care and rehabilitation services, and from barriers in the physical, social and policy environments that exclude people with spinal cord injury from participation in their communities.

Full Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is urgently required to address these gaps and barriers.

“Spinal cord injury is a medically complex and life-disrupting condition,” notes Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, WHO. “However, spinal cord injury is preventable, survivable, and need not preclude good health and social inclusion.”- he adds.

International perspectives on spinal cord injuries was developed in association with the International Spinal Cord Society and Swiss Paraplegic Research, and launched on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December 2013.