A new urban health challenge facing rapidly developing countries: Reducing sky rocketing unintentional injury deaths of immigrants

The unintentional injury death rates of immigrants living and/or tempporarily working in rapidly developing countries are increasing in the Middle East. The problem of unintentional injury deaths of immigrants and non-citizen populations attributed to traffic accidents and falls in urbanizing regions is the focus of this presentation. An analysis of male deaths between the ages of 20-65 in the years of 2006-2008 reported for six urbanizing United Arab Emirates (UAE) medical regions will be presented as a case study. This study found 1) 73.8 % of the unintentional deaths of all males who died by frequency were immigrants and 2) the rate of unintentional injury deaths reported for male immigrants and male citizens ages 20-65 differed significantly by the specific cause of the death, The study included male deaths from Accidental Falls, Accidental Poisonings, Motor Vehicles & Traffic Accidents and Accidents & Adverse Effects. One question to be addressed Does the death rate of immigrant males differed significantly from citizen males for each of these reported causes? A finding to be discussed is the observed rate of death of UAE male immigrants (non-citizens) from accidental falls which was higher than the expected rate of accidental falls for male citizens. A discussion of recommendations based on the study will also focus on the importance of initiating strategies to reduce fatal injuries in this vulnerable group of immigrants across the world and in the United States and enhancing the type of information incorporated in surveillance systems and emphasize appropriate methods of analysis.