On 5 March 2008, COFM hosted the Injury Prevention Symposium, which was jointly organized with KK Women and Children's Hospital in the context of the HMDP visit of Professor Ellen MacKenzie (Fred and Julie Soper Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health). The symposium started off with a multidisciplinary forum, entitled "Injury Prevention in Singapore: Whose Responsibility and Who is Leading?". Here, a wide variety of experts including architects, lawyers, nurses, engineers, a forensic pathologist, and emergency medicine specialists, discussed the impact and prevention strategies of important 'killers' in Singapore: Home Injuries, Drowning and Road Traffic Injuries. The Forum was followed by Key Note Lecture on 'Cost Effective Injury Control Research and Knowledge Translation' by Prof MacKenzie. During a workshop, several Singapore groups presented the results of their research projects in the field of Injury Prevention, which were critically evaluated by Prof MacKenzie.

Around eighty people from different departments and institutions attended the symposium and discussions were lively. It was concluded that Injury Prevention in Singapore should be a multidisciplinary effort. Only by getting all potential stakeholders around the table, real improvements can be made.

L-R: Dr A Tyebally, Ms Tan WK, A/Prof Chin HC, Dr A Mahadev, Dr K Heng,
Dr Gan BK, Dr A Ang, Mr Huang H, Prof Ellen MacKenzie, Mr MM Haque and Dr Helena Marieke Verkooijen