Assessing the burden of road traffic injuries: a one-year prospective study in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

<ns3:p>Background Road crashes are recognized as a major public health problem in low- and middle-income countries. However, initiating and detecting a reduction in the burden of road traffic injuries require reliable statistics to implement current data capture methods, while in many countries data is not sufficiently available and reliable. Methods This study presents an implementation of a monitoring system for road traffic crashes and injuries carried out in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The aim was to demonstrate the feasibility of a systematic capture method capable of improving estimation of the road crash rates and their characteristics. Results The number of road traffic injuries is estimated at 4,766 over one year, and the total number of deaths at 206. 90% of road crash victims are users of two-wheeled motorized vehicles. Lower limbs are the most frequently affected (49.5%) body areas, followed by the head and face (45.9%) and upper limbs (28.7%). Injuries to the chest are the most serious, followed by those to the lower limbs and the head. The spatial analysis of the density of casualties shows a concentration of road crashes on all major roads to the city especially near traffic lights and major intersections. Conclusion The action-research shows that to develop this type of monitoring system, it is essential to cross at least two sources of data collection involved in road crash management to estimate the number of collisions, injuries and fatalities.</ns3:p>