Summary This chapter aims to provide an overview of the basic concepts of in- jury, their types, and the burden of injuries, with particular reference to Nepal. A brief introduction to the global burden of injuries and their prevention is also presented in order to inform the readers about the wider current situation and apply it to the local context. The applica- tion of a public health approach to injury prevention and safety pro- motion is also described in this chapter. Background The American National Committee for Injury Prevention and Control has deined an injury as ‘any unintentional or intentional damage to the body resulting from acute exposure to thermal, mechanical, electrical or chemical en- ergy or absence of such essentials as heat or oxygen’ (The National Commit- tee for Injury Prevention and Control, 1989). In simple words, injury is physical damage to the body resulting from an intolerable amount of energy in any form. The duration between exposure and the onset of an injury is very short (Peden et al, 2002). Examples of different energy forms that may result in injuries are listed below (Holder et al, 2001): Puspa Raj Pant and Elizabeth Towner 11 Injury and Its Prevention