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Violence and Injury Prevention

The Violence and Injury Prevention Program (VIPP) aims to prevent death and disability from intentional and unintentional injury by assessing the incidence of injury and developing programs that reduce risk of injury. Services are provided through a contracting process with various grantees from across Pennsylvania. The goal of these funding initiatives is to focus on policy, environmental and systems changes supplemented with evidence-based individual behavior change, when appropriate, to improve the overall health and safety of our communities.

Below is a list of the VIPP focus areas and initiatives.
 

Below is a list of the VIPP focus areas and initiatives.
 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Prevention Initiatives: To decrease the prevalence and risk of ACEs, including child abuse and child sexual abuse by implementing evidence-based initiatives, such as PCAR's Parents in the Know program through the funded county/municipal health departments (CMHDs).
 
Falls Prevention InitiativesA Matter of Balance (MOB): Managing Concerns about Falls evidence-based program.  Currently, we partner with nine CMHDs Allegheny, Allentown, Bethlehem, Chester, Erie, Montgomery, Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia, and York.
 
Motor Vehicle Safety: Based upon the communities needs the funded CMHDs choose to focus on teenage and/or mature drivers and some also provide car seat distribution and education on the latest child passenger safety information.

Suicide Prevention: Funded CMHDs implement evidence-based suicide prevention initiatives and programs including: 'Talk Saves Lives', 'Question, Persuade, Refer', and participate on Suicide Prevention Task Forces in their communities.

Traumatic Brain Injury: Funded CMHDs promote the Concussion Wise Pennsylvania education course in their schools and communities.

Pennsylvania Violent Death Reporting System (VDRS): This program was established to collect and disseminate accurate, timely, and comprehensive surveillance data of all violent deaths in the selected target areas using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
 
Sexual Violence Prevention Education: Pennsylvania funds Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) to provide sexual violence prevention and education programming throughout Pennsylvania.

Violence Dashboard: The Violence Dashboard is an interactive tool designed to display aggregated statistics for hospital discharge reasons and causes of deaths in Pennsylvania. Counts, crude rates, and age-adjusted rates can be produced for assaults, self-harm attempts, and suicides by firearms, cuts and piercing, and poisonings.
 

Contact Information:

Violence and Injury Prevention Program
PA Department of Health
Room 1008 Health and Welfare Building
625 Forster Street
Harrisburg, PA 17120-0701
Phone: 717-787-5900​