Article Sidebar
Article Details
While African Health Sciences has been freely accessible online there have been questions on whether it is Open Access or not. We wish to clearly state that indeed African Health Sciences is Open Access. There are key issues regarding Open Access needing clarification for avoidance of doubt:
- 1. Henceforth, papers in African Health Sciences will be published under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on https://creativecomons.org/)
- 2. The copyright owners or the authors grant the 3rd party (perpetually and in advance) the right to disseminate, reproduce, or use the research papers in part or in full, format/medium as long as:
- No substantive errors are introduced in the process
- Attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given
- The referencing details are not changed.
Should the papers be reproduced in part, this must be clearly stated.
- 3. The papers will be freely and universally accessible online in an easily readable format such as XML in at least one widely recognized open access repository such as PUBMED CENTRAL.
B. ABRIDGED LICENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND African Health Sciences
I submitted my manuscript to African Health Sciences and would like to affirm that:
1.0 I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
2.0 I guarantee, on behalf of self and co-authors:
- That the paper is original, and has not been published in any other peer-reviewed journal; nor is it under consideration by other journal (s). It does not infringe existing copyright or any other person’s rights
- That we are/I am the sole author(s) of the paper and with authority to enter into this agreement. My granting rights to African Health Sciences is not in breach of any other obligation
- That the paper contains nothing unlawful, or libelous. Nor anything that would constitute a breach of contract, confidence or commitment given to secrecy, if published
- That I/we have taken care to ensure the integrity of the article.
3.0 I and all co-authors, agree that the paper, if accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. (see https://creativecommons.org/)
Main Article Content
Demographic profile and epidemiology of injury in Mthatha, South Africa
Abstract
Methods: This review was conducted on all trauma patients admitted at the Mthatha Hospital Complex and Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital from the 1st January 1997 to the 31st December 2000.
Results: The incident rate of injuries was 3.2% (n=2460/75,833 total admissions). Injured patients were mostly black (80%) and males (ratio: 5 men: 1 woman). Only 8.1% of injured patients were transported to hospital by ambulances. The leading causes of injuries were inter-personal violence accounting for 60% of cases, and motor vehicle accidents accounting for 19%; of them 38% were due to poor visibility, over speeding, and fatigue. The overall mortality was 33% (n=821) independently predicted by poverty (OR=8.2 95%CI 6-11.1; P40 years(OR=7.8 95%CI 7.7-12.1;P<0.0001).
Conclusion: The burden of injury is a mass issue that warrants regional attention with quality of care and training.
Keywords: Injuries, violence, poverty, mortality, South Africa
African Health Sciences 2013; 13(4): 1144 - 1148
