Interim Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of the programme of Community action on injury prevention in the framework for action in the field of Public Health (1999 to 2003) - Decision n° 372/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 February 1999
Date: 2002-10-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, accident in the home, data collection, disease prevention, health policy, information system, project evaluation, public health, report

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 10.10.2002
COM(2002) 552 final

INTERIM REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

on the implementation of the programme of Community action on injury prevention in
the framework for action in the field of Public Health (1999 to 2003) - Decision
n° 372/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 February 1999

INTERIM REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

on the implementation of the programme of Community action on injury prevention in
the framework for action in the field of Public Health (1999 to 2003) - Decision
n° 372/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 February 1999

Table of Contents

Introduction ………………………………………………………………. 3

Consistency and Complementarity ………………………………………. 4

Effectiveness and the achievement of the objectives …………………….. 5

Monitoring……………………………………………………………….

7

Adjustments ……………………………………………………………… 8

Excerpt from the experts report ………………………………………….. 9

The management of the programme ………………………………………11

Budget ……………………………………………………………………..12

Annexes:

List of the projects financed in 1999, 2000, 2001

List of the projects proposed for funding for 2002

2

Introduction

Following  the  adoption  of  the  programme  of  Community  action  on  injury  prevention,  the
Commission presents hereunder an interim report concerning the implementation period 1999
to  2001  (see  in  annex  the  lists  of  projects  financed  in  1999,  2000  and  2001,  as  well  as  the
projects proposed for funding for 2002).

In  this  report,  the  Commission  highlights  the  degree  of  consistency  and  complementarity
reached between the Programme and the other relevant Community policies, programmes and
initiatives. With a view to increasing the value and impact of this Programme an evaluation
has been performed of the actions undertaken. For this purpose,  the  Commission  has  drawn
on the opinion of experts and representatives of the Member States serving on the Programme
Committee. The Commission also reports on the adjustments that are deemed necessary as a
consequence of the information gathered.

3

Consistency and Complementarity

The Commission sought consistency and complementarity between its public health and other
Community  policies,  programmes  and  initiatives  by  a  multitude  of  efforts  on  different
operational levels, in particular:

The  draft  proposal  for  the  programme  itself  and  the  work  programmes  for  1999,  2000  and
2001  were  issued  after  inter-service  consultations  between  various  Commission  services
concerned.  Furthermore,  officials  of  the  relevant  Commission  services  were  invited  to  the
meetings  of  the  Programme  Committee  and  were  involved  in  the  evaluation  of  projects
submitted  for  funding  under  the  Programme.  There  was  a  close  co-operation  with  other
Community  programmes,  which  resulted,  e.  g.,  in  projects  dealing  with  accidents  on  farms
and  in  the  consumer  services  sector  (working  accidents  vs.  home  and  leisure  accidents  vs.
transport accidents).

Meetings of project  co-ordinators  and  of  the injury prevention network additionally  ensured
consistency between the ongoing projects as well as complementarity with the work in injury
prevention in the Member States.

4

Effectiveness and the achievement of the objectives

The projects, which were proposed by the contractors, were  accepted according to the work
programmes  1999  to  2001.  However,  not  all  priorities  defined  in  these  yearly  work
programmes were chosen as basis for project proposals. For example, there  were no project
proposals  concerning  the  development  of  indicators  for  the  monitoring  of  home  and  leisure
injuries.

The Injury Prevention Projects could be classified in two main groups, firsly, data collection
projects,  and  secondly  epidemiological  projects.  Data  collection  projects  were  mainly
performed  by  institutions  of  or  related  to  the  Member  States  administrations,  such  as  for
example  Public  Health  Institutes,  and  epidemiological  projects  were  mostly  performed  by
non-governmental  institutions.  There  was  one  reservation  that  in  the  initial  stages,  the
European added value of projects was in many cases unsatisfactory, but stress has been placed
on  the  development  of  the  network  project  and  activities  with  a  high  number  of  Member
States participating in order to resolve this shortcoming.

In  this  context,  the  creation  of  a  project:  ‘Injury  Prevention  Programme  Network  Co-
ordinating  Secretariat’  was  very  helpful  indeed:  this  project  has  the  task  to  create  and  co-
ordinate the Injury Prevention Network, to have Network Meetings two to three times a year,
to do the ongoing monitoring and evaluation together with the Commission services, to issue
an 
Newsletter
(http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph/programmes/injury/ippnwsl.htm)  and  to  give  technical
advice to projects and information to interested citizens. This project was managed until 2001
by a Dutch contractor, who was followed by a Danish contractor.

Prevention 

evaluation 

publish 

report, 

Injury 

to 

a 

The  main  objective,  to  collect  data  on  home  and  leisure  injuries,  was  met  in  1999  for  11
Member  States,  in  2000  for  14  Member  States,  in  2001  for  11  Member  States  and  in  2002
(see page 12), in 9 Member States this data collection will be done (I, NL, S, EL, DK, F, UK,
A, E). The initial increase of participation shows the primary interest of Member States in the
Programme. The subsequent decrease in 2001 was also caused by concern of some Member
States concerning data protection, and because methods not compatible with the Programme
were  used  locally  for  data  collection.  In  2002,  the  reason  for  the  further  decrease  of  the
number of co-operating Member States is mainly caused by the request of the Commission for
Minimum  Standards  of  data  collection  in  order  to  have  representative,  compatible  and
comparable data: this was the price to be paid for better data quality and it is considered that
the added value of 9 Member States’ comparable and representative data is preferable to data
for 15 countries which is neither comparable nor representative. The Minimum Requirements
were designed together with responsible members of the Injury Prevention Network and were
accepted by the Injury Prevention Committee at the meeting held on 18 December 2001. The
prospect of having comparable data available for a nucleus of 9 Member States in 2003 gives
remaining  Member  States  the  opportunity  to  compare  their  results  and  to  supply  their
comparisons to the Community in the future.

The  different  methods  of  data  collection,  classification  and  codification  used  in  different
Member  States  originated  from  the  former  EHLASS  (European  Home  and  Leisure
Surveillance System) in which the Member States were supplied with funds by the European
Community to do their own data collection. Its successor, the Injury Prevention Programme,
has  as  one  of  its  objectives  to  streamline  the  differences  between  the  data  collection
procedures of the different Member States. Many projects have the purpose of comparing the
different  data  already  collected  or  develop  tools  for  comparing  them.  Although  successful,

5

much  work  went  into  this  effort  to  make  the  available  data  comparable  and  perhaps  more
efforts should have been put into the establishment of common methods.

Also,  new  projects  are  dealing  with  a  possible  future  integration  of  the  Codification  used
within the Injury Prevention Programme in the International Classification of External Causes
of  Injuries  (ICECI:  a  WHO  Classification),  which  is  used  world  wide,  in  order  to  enhance
international  comparability.  This  was  also  discussed  on  the  occasion  of  a  meeting  of
representatives  of  the  Commission  services  with  the  main  actors  of  ICE  (International
Collaborative Effort on Injury Statistics) in Washington, which was organised by the NCHS
(National Centre of Health Statistics, U.S.A) in April 2001. As a result of these activities, in
2002, one project will deal with injuries on farms and one with injuries in consumer services
(home and leisure injuries vs. work injuries).

To  ensure  involvement  of  Member  States  and  their  specialised  services,  the  opinion  of  the
Member States' representatives was invited through the Programme Committee as laid down
in the Programme decision. Thus, the necessary support of Member States for implementation
of  the  actions  selected  in  their  countries  was  encouraged.  The  transparency  towards  the
European Parliament was ensured by the prior transmission to that Institution of reports and
documents intended for each of the Programme Committee meetings as well as an annual list
of projects financed.

To  ensure  the  highest  possible  standards  for  the  quality  of  the  actions  selected,  each
Programme Committee meeting not only gave a favourable opinion on the annual work plans,
but was also consulted on the preparation of the calls for proposals, the selection of projects
and the follow-up of their implementation.

The  Injury  Prevention  Programme  Committee  as  well  as  the  Injury  Prevention  Programme
Project Co-ordinators met twice a year in Luxembourg.

The Meetings of the Injury Prevention Network within the ‘Injury Prevention Programme Co-
ordinating  Secretariat’  project  took  place  in  combination  with  the  project  co-ordinators
meetings,  above-mentioned,  and  in  Vienna  on  14  March  2001  in  conjunction  with  the
Congress on Product Safety.

6

Monitoring

Monitoring of the specific actions has been performed continuously. Firstly, the Commission
services  performed  a  continuous  follow-up  of  the  contractual  obligations  of  the  projects
financed through a control of interim and final reports submitted by contractors. Secondly, a
monitoring  function  was  performed  within  the  ‘Injury  Prevention  Programme  Network  Co-
ordinating  Secretariat  project,  within  which  a  continuous  qualitative  evaluation  and
assessment of the Injury Prevention Programme projects was assured.

The Commission Services investigated in 2001 projects of the Injury Prevention Programme.
Project  co-ordination  meetings,  on  site  visits  of  the  projects  and  permanent  personal  advice
were  the  tools  used  for  the  follow-up  of  the  projects.  Minor  irregularities  detected  during  a
financial audit were followed up and resolved.

The  Commission  experienced  some  problems  with,  for  instance,  the  timeliness  of  data
delivery by some project partners, mainly official  institutions  of  the  Member States. This is
mainly due to administrative burden in the Member States, which is also the expressed reason
for some Member States not to take part in the data collection projects.

7

Adjustments

To  improve  Community  added  value  as  an  important  general  objective,  the  Commission
Services have embarked on a strategy to ask for enhanced networking of applicants to ensure
better cross-border co-operation, e.g., as a means of dissemination of best practice in Europe.
The above mentioned ‘Injury Prevention Programme Network Co-ordinating Secretariat’ was
very  helpful  to  monitor  ongoing  activities,  but  also  to  adjust  e.g.  definitions,  codification,
classification and methods according to the most recent findings.

To cover areas of Community interest, which were not covered by specific actions selected to
date,  the  Commission  adapted  each  respective  annual  work  plan  accordingly.  In  order  to
prepare  the  future  Community  Public  Health  Programme,  a  common  call  for  proposals
together  with  the  other  seven  existing  programmes  in  the  field  of  Public  Health  was  issued
linking the current programmes with the future three strands in its structure:

‘Health Information’,

‘Rapid Reaction to Health Threats’,

‘Tackling Health Determinants through Health Promotion and Disease Prevention’.

To further improve transparency and simplify dissemination at the same time, the final reports
of the projects are disseminated by the ‘Injury Prevention Programme Network Co-ordinating
Secretariat’ to the Injury Prevention Network and to the Injury Prevention Programme project
co-ordinators by electronic means. The ‘Injury Prevention Programme Network Co-ordinating
Secretariat’  also  disseminates  the  results  of  projects  and  other  relevant  information  in  a
is  widely  distributed
regularly  prepared 
(http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph/programmes/injury/ippnwsl.htm).

Injury  Prevention  Newsletter,  which 

Following  the  suggestions  of  the  qualitative  interim  evaluation  performed  by  the  Dutch
Institute  for  Consumer  Safety  and  intensive  consultations  with  the  members  of  the  Injury
Prevention Network and with  experts of the  institutions  performing data  collection  projects,
the 2002 work programme has been adapted strongly supporting common methodology in the
data collection projects.

8

Excerpt  from  the  interim  evaluation  performed  by  the  Dutch
Consumer Safety Institute, Amsterdam, 2001

A summary of the conclusions of the qualitative evaluation of experts who, under contract to
the Commission, analysed the projects performed until 2001 is presented below (This report
was  also  presented  at  the  Programme  Committee  Meetings  on  20  June  and  18  December
2001, which the Committee accepted without comments):

"With few exceptions, the projects have been evaluated as appropriate or very appropriate and
relevant in relation to the objectives of the Injury Prevention Programme and the priorities of
the  yearly  work  programmes.  Mostly,  they  properly  address  the  various  actions  in  terms  of
aims, specific objectives, design and achievements. However, in some cases as in some data
collection projects, the used classification, methods and project designs differed too much due
to local preferences.

Nevertheless, the projects in general appear to be competently implemented and managed. In
addition, the timing of outputs in comparison with the proposed schedule has generally been
maintained, with few exceptions.

The dissemination of  results has been performed by  the Network  Secretariat Project, on  the
occasion of project Co-ordinators meetings and by electronic means. Although these means of
dissemination  are  certainly  appropriate,  they  are  undoubtedly  not  sufficient  to  ensure
involvement of the general public or even of a majority of the health professionals concerned.

Positive results of note include:

-  Injury  Prevention  Programme  had  a  positive  role  in  getting  data  collection  funded  in  the
Member States, in starting to get data transmitted into one EU databank, in getting data more
streamlined  and  more  comparable,  also  in  insuring  links  with  other  networks  (e.g.  Health
Monitoring).

- Injury Prevention Projects helped to improve research into opportunities for prevention.

However,  a  more  common  approach  to  codification,  data  collection  methodology  and
therefore the collection of more comparable data is  recommended: The  diversity of  systems
and  practice  in  the  Member  States  in  injury  data  collection  and  prevention  gives  ample
opportunities in the future to improve efficiency, effectiveness and benefit for the Community
as a whole.

In general, from a review of the report it is clear that the listed projects greatly benefited and
indeed  were  often  made  possible  by  the  financial  support  of  the  Injury  Prevention
Programme. For many of them, the Community financial support allowed a high intensity of
inter-country  exchanges,  the  agreement  on  methods,  the  achievement  of  an  uniform  quality
and the production of common documents and statements.

It is remarkable that in many cases the project’s activities within the programme framework
had  synergy  and  beneficial  effects  on  national  health  activities  within  injury  prevention.
However, the  relation with other agencies active  in  the  field  is  not  always  clear.  Finally,  in
terms of European added value, the evaluation identified some contributions and some room
for improvement. All epidemiological projects are multinational, including the Network Co-

9

ordinating Secretariat  Project.  The  Data Collection  Projects  are  performed  by the respective
Member States, and the collected data have to be filled in a common database.

However, multinationality does not automatically guarantee an acceptable level of European
added value, for which a rigorous methodology, a sufficient degree of innovation and a good
dissemination of results are also needed. These features characterise many, but not all projects
and actions."

10

The management of the Programme

Programme  management  since  the  early  years  of  the  implementation  has  been  streamlined,
but there are still opportunities for improvement.

Due  to  the  fact  that  the  forerunner  of  the  Injury  Prevention  Programme  Data  Collection
Projects was EHLASS (European Home and Leisure Accidents Surveillance Systems), there
were  initial  problems  in  the  use  of  a  common  methodology,  common  classification  and
therefore  comparability  of  the  collected  data.  EHLASS  was  originally  meant  to  be  a
programme  supporting  the  Member  States  in  collecting  their  own  data  about  Home  and
Leisure Injuries, with their own methods (Decision No 3092/94/EC; OJ L 331, 21.12.1994).

The  Injury  Prevention  Programme  Data  Collection  Project  had  as  one  of  its  objectives  to
enhance  comparable  methods  of  data  collection  in  the  Member  States  in  order  to  support
comparability and to increase the European added value. It was a challenge to streamline the
data collection methods and the codification used and in the same time not to lose the most
important  partners.  A  significant  part  of  the  budget  spent  was  on  projects  with  the  goal  of
comparing historical information stored in the Home and Leisure Accident data base, which
was  collected  with  different  methods:  the  results  are  indeed  less  cost-effective  than  if  they
would have been based on a common approach to data collection methods, classification and
reporting in Europe.

The  Work  Programme  2002  prepared  already  the  future  Community  Public  Health
Programme,  in  order  not  to  lose  any  work  done  to  date  and  in  order  to  ensure  a  smooth
transition between the  old and  new  Programmes.  Parts  of  the  Injury  Prevention  Programme
could be integrated into the new Programme, due to enter into effect in January 2003.

The data collection projects could be integrated in the ‘Health Information Strand’ of the new
Programme. The ISS (Injury Surveillance System) database will be operational in the second
half of 2002. It will contain more than 5 Million Home and Leisure Accident (HLA) data sets
and it is prepared to store future HLA data provided by the Member States

Projects  dealing  with  rapid  alert  concerning  dangerous  products  could  be  integrated  in  the
‘Rapid  Reaction’  strand  of  the  new  Programme  and  complement  RAPEX  and  other
information-systems operated in the area of General Product Safety.

Projects dealing with injury prevention methods could be integrated in the ‘Tackling Health
Determinants through Health Promotion and Disease Prevention’ strand.

The  final  evaluation  of  the  Injury  Prevention  Programme  will  take  place  within  a  contract
starting mid 2002 and will continue until the last project is finished. The final evaluation will
include a qualitative evaluation and a cost-benefit study for the whole programme from 1999
to its end (the last projects are planned to end during the year 2003).

In summary, there does not appear any mismanagement of any aspect of the Injury Prevention
Programme  in  the  past  but,  after  the  interim  evaluation,  the  opportunity  was  taken  to
streamline procedures, for instance, in the field of the data collection projects.

11

Budget
According to Article 4.1 of Decision No 372/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council  of  8  February  1999,  adopting  a  programme  of  Community  action  on  injury
prevention  in  the  framework  for  action  in  the  field  of  public  health  (1999  to  2003),  the
financial  framework  for  the  implementation  for  the  period  1999  to  2003  was  set  at  €  14
million (on average 2,8 million € per year) (OJ L46/1; 20.02.1999).

Budget 1999

N° of projects Member States

Budget (in Mio Euro)

Data Collection

11

F,  EL,  S,  NL,  FIN,  L,  DK,  A,  UK,
B, E

1.245.635,00

Epidemiological

08

NL, EL(2x), F, DK, B, D(2x)

1.200.299,00

TOTAL 1999

19

2.445.934,00

Budget 2000

N° of projects Member States

Budget (in Mio Euro)

Data Collection

14

E, DK, I, D, UK, P, FIN, F, NL, A,
S, IRL, L, EL

1.714.673,35

Epidemiological

07

NL, DK, UK, EL, A(3x)

1.082.371,20

TOTAL 2000

21

2.797.044,55

Budget 2001

N° of projects Member States

Budget (in Mio Euro)

Data Collection

11

I,  NL, S, EL,  DK,  F,  UK,  A,  E,  P,
D

1.713.879,50

Epidemiological

08

NL(2x), F, D, A(2x), DK, EL,

967.783,70

TOTAL 2001

19

2.681.663,20

Sum 1999 – 2001

N° of projects

Total budget (in Mio Euro)

Data Collection

Epidemiological

36

23

TOTAL

1999 - 2001

59

12

4.674.187,85

3.250453,90

7.924.641,75