The Violence and Injury Prevention Section aims to prevent death and disability from intentional and unintentional injury by assessing the incidence of injury and developing programs that reduce risk of injury. Services are provided through a contracting process with various grantees from across Pennsylvania. The goal of these funding initiatives is to focus on policy, environmental and systems changes supplemented with evidence-based individual behavior change, when appropriate, to improve the overall health and safety of our communities.
Focus areas and initiatives:
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Prevention Initiatives: To decrease the prevalence and risk of ACEs, including promoting healthy relationship behavior by implementing evidence-based initiatives, the CDC program Dating Matters is funded.
Falls Prevention Initiatives: To decrease falls risk in the older adult population, evidence-based falls prevention programs including Tai Chi, Tai Ji Quan, and a Matter of Balance are funded.
Motor Vehicle Safety: To decrease unsafe driving behavior that leads to injuries, the evidence-based programs Impact Teen Drivers, CarFit for older adults, and certified child passenger safety seat installation, checks and distribution programs are funded.
Trauma Prevention Initiative: Funds a statewide trauma system network with the mission to save lives, improve care, and empower survivors. The four key pillars of the program are trauma prevention education, advocacy, infrastructure, and empowerment.
Suicide Prevention: The program aims to identify and support individuals at risk by reducing factors that increase risk and increasing factors that promote resilience among disproportionately affected populations. The program promotes the implementation of gatekeeper evidenced-based programs including “Mental Health First Aid” and ''Question, Persuade, Refer”. Grantees are also required to participate on or collaborate with local Suicide Prevention Task Forces in their jurisdiction.
Suicide Syndromic Surveillance System: The syndromic surveillance system is the Department of Health’s internal-facing dashboard and alerts system that collects suicide-related data, specifically data related to suicide ideation and attempts in Pennsylvania. The surveillance system collects this data from all Emergency Departments in Pennsylvania.
Gun Violence Prevention: The focus of this program is to take a public health approach to decrease injuries and deaths due to firearms. With the use of evidence-based and effective programs, the goal is to provide education and resources on safe firearm storage for target populations throughout the Commonwealth.
Pennsylvania Violent Death Reporting System (VDRS): This program was established to collect and disseminate accurate, timely, and comprehensive surveillance data about all violent deaths in the state using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Sexual Violence Prevention Education: Pennsylvania funds the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect, a division of Respect Together, to provide sexual violence prevention and education programming throughout Pennsylvania.
Violence Dashboard: The Violence Dashboard is an interactive tool designed to display aggregated statistics for hospital discharge reasons and causes of deaths in Pennsylvania. Counts, crude rates, and age-adjusted rates can be produced for assaults, self-harm attempts, and suicides by firearms, cuts and piercing, and poisonings.
Contact Information:
Violence and Injury Prevention Program
PA Department of Health
Room 1008 Health and Human Services Building
625 Forster Street
Harrisburg, PA 17120-0701
Phone: 717-787-5900