Rationale and design of the violence, injury and trauma observatory (VITO): the Cape Town VITO pilot studies protocol

Abstract

The establishment of violence and injury observatories elsewhere has been found to reduce the burden within a relatively short period. Currently no integrated system exists in South Africa to provide collated data on violence, to allow for targeted interventions and routine monitoring and evaluation. This research seeks to identify if bringing multiple data sources, including but not limited to data from the South African Police Service (SAPS), Forensic Pathology Services (FPS), Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and local hospital clinical databases, together are (1) feasible; (2) able to generate data for action, that is valid, reliable and robust and (3) able to lead to interventions.The violence, injury and trauma observatory (VITO) is a planned collaborative, multicentre study of clinical, police and forensic data for violence and injury in the City of Cape Town, where a local context exists of access to multiple source of health and non-health data. The VITO will initially be piloted in Khayelitsha, a periurban community characterised by increased rates of violence, where fatal and non-fatal injury data will be sourced from within the community for the period 2012–2015 and subjected to descriptive statistics and time-trend analyses. Analysed data will be visualised using story maps, data clocks, web maps and other geographical information systems-related products.This study has been approved by the University of Cape Town’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC 861/2016). We intend to disseminate our findings among stakeholders within the local government safety cluster, non-governmental organisations working within the violence prevention sector and the afflicted communities through the SAPS and violence prevention through urban upgrading community forums. Findings from this work will serve to identify important issues and trends, influence public policy and develop evidence-based interventions.

“I Am Actually Sitting With Fear”: Narratives of Fear of Crime and Actual Victimization in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

“….and the latest crime statistics reveal that three quarters of the murders in South Africa were committed by persons in the twenty to thirty-nine-year-old age group” (John, 2018, p. 57). In the WCP, homicide rates were greater than the national average (Jabar et al, 2017) and many of these murders took place in an area called the Cape Flats in the Western Cape (places such as Mitchells Plain, Lavender Hill, Khayalitsha, and Elsiesriver)” (Weber & Bowers-DuToit, 2018, p. 1). These townships are demographically and racially representative of Maraval.…”

Violence and injury observatories: Reducing the burden of injury in high-risk communities

“…Based on these potential benefits and the public health imperative to address the high rate of violence and injury in South Africa, the Cape Town Violence, Injury and Trauma Observatory (VITO) is proposed as the first non-conflict observatory on the African continent. 68 To comment on this article visit http://www.issafrica.org/sacq.php…”

Violence and injury observatories: Reducing the burden of injury in high-risk communities

“…Based on these potential benefits and the public health imperative to address the high rate of violence and injury in South Africa, the Cape Town Violence, Injury and Trauma Observatory (VITO) is proposed as the first non-conflict observatory on the African continent. 68 To comment on this article visit http://www.issafrica.org/sacq.php Notes…”