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Pézard, Stéphanie and Anne-Kathrin Glatz. 2010 ‘Firearm Injury a Low Priority.’ Arms in and Around Mauritania: National and Regional Security Implications; Occasional Paper No. 24, p. 19. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 June

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Firearm Injury a Low Priority

While the Ministry of Health records types and numbers of wounds, it does not document the cause of a wound. According to an official Mauritanian source, establishing statistics on the number of people with bullet wounds is not a priority, given how rare this type of injury is.

The causes of wounds are sometimes mentioned in hosital registers, but this data is not sysematically recorded or centralized. It should also be noted that the World Health Organization does not consider gunshot wounds a public health priority in Mauritania. Compared with injuries caused by traffic accidents, of which there are many in the country, the number caused by firearms is considered too low to justify maintaining statistics on the subject. …

According to the former head of the emergency department of the National Hospital, the largest hospital in Nouakchott, there are no more than 20 cases per year. Patients are usually individuals living in rural areas who are admitted following a hunting accident, or who are injured due to poor handling of their weapons. The other reasons are interpersonal conflicts, such as family conflicts or arguments about livestock or access to resources.

ID: Q4997

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