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Press Release

Victims of road traffic crashes call for effective emergency care –
the “Trauma Promise Campaign”
Victims of road traffic crashes call on doctors everywhere to promise to improve the care of seriously
injured patients.
Thousands of deaths through road traffic crashes could be prevented by the early use of an inexpensive
drug called tranexamic acid but victims want to make sure that it is being used in hospitals.
In a bid to save lives they are asking doctors to make the Trauma Promise: www.traumapromise.org.
The promise is a public commitment that tranexamic acid will be available when needed and that trauma
teams know who, when and how patients should be treated.
The international CRASH-2 trial assessed the effect of tranexamic acid in 20,211 patients with bleeding
as a result of serious injury (trauma). Given within three hours of injury, the drug reduced the risk of
bleeding to death by a third. At less than US$10 per treatment, it is a fraction of the cost of a pint of blood
in many countries and one of the cheapest ways to save a life that exists.
In an article published in The Lancet’s special issue on the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, victim
organisation leaders and health experts write: “It is one of the most cost-effective ways to save a life, and
could prevent more than 100 000 premature deaths every year. We have the evidence—we must use it in
the service of humanity.
Jeannot Mersch, FEVR president (European Federation of Road Traffic Victims) said:
”Those of us who have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one in a road crash and represent Europe-wide
people traumatized through such sudden violent bereavements, appeal to hospitals in Europe and the
whole world to sign the “Trauma Patient Promise.

“This could really help us to reach the aim that the European Commission has set, namely a
reduction of 50% of road deaths by 2020. We invite health professionals everywhere to make a promise to their communities that they will review the new evidence on tranexamic acid and apply it to improve the care of trauma patients.” The appeal coincides with the publication of the results of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, which shows that some 1.3 million people die in road traffic crashes every year. Notes to Editors: 1. Media enquiries : [email protected] 2. Journal citation: Haleema Shakur, Ian Roberts, Peter Piot, Richard Horton, Etienne Krug, Jeannot Mersch, A promise to save 100,000 trauma patients, The Lancet. DOI: 3. CRASH-2 was a large, randomised trial involving over 20,000 adult patients in 274 hospitals across 40 countries, and was funded by England's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme. The results were published in The Lancet in June 2010. Full details of the trial papers and article can be found at www.lancet.com/crash-2 The Federation has consultative status (roster) with the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations and is a permanent council member of ETSC ( European Transport Safety Council)and UNRSC
United Nations Road Safety Collaboration Forum

Source: http://www.fevr.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Dec-2012-PressReleaseTraumaPromiseE.pdf