Unintentional and violence-related injuries are leading causes of death and disability among Americans. Injuries are the number one cause of death in children and young adults in the United States and the leading cause of years of potential life lost before age 65 years.¹ More than 5 million people in the United States report suffering from chronic, injury-related disabilities, and the lives of millions of others have been affected by injuries to themselves or to someone they love.² The injury and violence prevention objectives aim to reduce such injuries, disabilities, and deaths, thereby increasing the quality and years of healthy life. Contributing to the elimination of health disparities, they also emphasize interventions that focus on populations most at risk for unintentional injury and violence.

Of the measurable objectives and subobjectives for the Injury and Violence Prevention focus area, 20 moved toward their targets, including objectives related to nonfatal motor vehicle injuries, residential fire deaths, hip fractures, dog bites, physical assault (for example, sexual assault and physical fighting among students), nonfatal firearm-related injuries, and weapon-carrying on school property. Two objectives—reducing physical assault by current or former intimate partners and rape—met or exceeded their targets.

Despite these gains, 13 injury and violence objectives and subobjectives moved away from their targets, including those related to nonfatal head injury hospitalizations, firearm-related deaths, nonfatal poisonings, deaths from poisoning or from suffocation, and injury-related emergency department visits.

Positive change occurred in specific areas related to the elimination of health disparities. For example, the disparity in physical assault between the American Indian or Alaska Native population and the best group declined by more than 100 percentage points. The disparity in firearm-related injuries between the Hispanic population and the best group also declined by more than 100 percentage points, as did the disparity in residential fire deaths between the black non-Hispanic population and the best group.

Notwithstanding this progress, health disparities in injury and violence prevention continue and are increasing in some cases. For example, the disparity in firearm-related deaths between the black non-Hispanic population and the best group increased by more than 100 percentage points since the beginning of the decade.

Many objectives have progressed toward their targets since the beginning of the decade. However, continuing efforts are needed to achieve the injury and violence prevention objectives and eliminate disparities.