Systematic medical data collection of intentional injuries during armed conflicts: a pilot study conducted in West Bank, Palestine

Abstract

Aims: A study was undertaken on implementing medical data collection as a tool to assess the relative number and character of intentional injuries before and during an armed conflict.

Methods: Data on hospital contacts due to intentional injury were collected retrospectively at two hospitals in West Bank, Palestine, and classified by ICD10 and the new International Classification of External Causes of Injuries (ICECI). A three-month period prior to the current Intifada, June-August 2000 and two three-month periods of the Intifada, September-December 2000 and June-August 2001 were chosen.

Results: The number of contacts increased from 23 in the period prior to the Intifada to 740 during the first and 199 during the second period of the Intifada. During the period before the Intifada the victims were men, and no one was younger than 10 years. During the Intifada 9% were women, 3% below 10 years, and 9% aged 10-14 years. Prior to the Intifada all injuries were caused by blunt force. During the Intifada 65% of the injuries were caused by firearms or explosives, 19% by beating and 6% by gaseous substances. Among children most lesions were localized to the head, including eye and brain damage, and were mostly caused by firearms.

Conclusions: Injury registration by ICD10 combined with ICECI codes facilitates analyses of correlations between characteristics of armed conflicts and injuries. Medical data collection is an important instrument in documentation of the effects of weapons and in surveillance of violations of humanitarian law, particularly as to the worrying magnitude of young children being seriously victimized.