Small
Arms and Health
An
IPPNW student initiative
Draft
by Proochista Ariana and Antonio
Hernandez
We
are looking to form a core working group.
If you're interested, please contact us at alexro80@web.de
Purpose:
Comparative
assessment of the health and economic impact of small arms globally. A pilot study conducted by student members of
IPPNW.
Objectives:
-Survey the
morbidity and
mortality directly related to the use of small
arms
-Determine
the context out of
which injures were incurred
-Ascertain
the economic
burden on the health care system
-Compare and
contrast data
obtained from 6 distinct regions: Latin
America, the Middle East, South Asia,
Eastern Europe, North America, and Africa.
-Involve
IPPNW medical
students in an international cooperative study
that will culminate in data useful for influencing policies related to
the sale
and control of small arms
Methodology:
A
comprehensive yet simple survey (below) will be made available to our
medical
student members in all 6 of the above-mentioned regions.
For the pilot study, at least one hospital in
each region will be chosen to participate. Students
will be asked to collect the information
and submit their data
to a central database for analysis. Statistical
analyses will aim to convey not only the
burden of injuries
due to small arms within a particular country but also allow for
valuable
comparisons between different countries.
Survey:
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
SES
(indirectly ascertained by patients place of residence)
Education
(grade level completed)
Employment
Day
and hour of injury
Location
where injury occurred
-Neighborhood
-House, office, bar, street, other
Context
out of which injury occurred
(robbery,
domestic, gang related, disagreement, assault, accident, suicide
attempt)
Did
you know the person who afflicted the injury? Yes/No
Type
of weapon used
Have
you had any previous injuries with small arms (Yes/No If yes,
explain)
Do you
own a firearm?
Did
you have a firearm with you at the time of injury? Yes/No
Was
the weapon used to afflict the injury your own? Yes/No
Fatality
(if patient died due to the injury)
Morbidity
-Where injury was sustained (marked
on human figure)
-Severity of injury (subjective)
-Estimate of future disability
(subjective)
Costs
incurred as result of tests and procedures performed (specify currency)
Please
also include wherever possible, pictures and the victims’ stories.
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