Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization
(PAHO/WHO) - 2012
“…..This edition highlights the mortality due to external causes (EC);
those causes of death different from natural causes and recognized
as avoidable such as suicides, homicides and accidents. From the
data reported by the countries, it is estimated that over 5.5 million
people died from EC in the Region between 1999 and 2009.
Three and a half million deaths (64%) occurred among the young
and adult population (10-49 years old) with an average of 319,000
deaths per year; 84% of the deaths happened among males, five
times more deaths among men than women. The most frequent
causes were homicides (33%) and land transport accidents (26%).
Mortality from land transport accidents and homicides might be
associated with economic, educational, political, social, and cultural
factors. Also, they overburden the health care systems and pose a
high cost on society, in addition to the suffering of the victims and their
families6. In several countries of the Region the proportion of
population in productive ages regarding the number of the youngest
and the oldest are increasing, favoring their economic growth.
The negative potential impact of these deaths over this “demographic
bonus” is an important call to countries for action given the
preventability of these outcomes.
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