Leif Svanström

Leif Svanström
Born(1943-10-30)30 October 1943
Gamleby, Västervik, Sweden
DiedJanuary 29, 2023(2023-01-29) (aged 79)
Sweden
SpouseKerstin
Children4
Academic background
Alma materLund University
Academic work
DisciplineSocial medicine
InstitutionsKarolinska Institute

Leif Svanström (30 October 1943 – 29 January 2023) was a Swedish physician and researcher in the field of social medicine. He organized the first World Conference on Accident and Injury Prevention. He led initiatives at the Karolinska Institute in association with the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop and implement Safe Communities programs.

Early life and education

He was born 30 October 1943 in Gamleby in the Västervik Municipality of Sweden.[1] He earned his BA and MD from Lund University in 1966 and 1972, respectively. His PhD was completed in 1972.[2]

Career

He became a professor at the Karolinska Institute in 1980.[3]

Svanström worked with Bo Haglund to develop the so-called rainbow model of health determinants, which was published 1983 in a Swedish medical textbook.[4][5] The model was translated into English and became more commonly known as the Dahlgren-Whitehead model.[6][7] In 2015, the UK Economic and Social Science Research Council cited it as one of the 50 key social science achievements of the past 50 years.[8]

In 1989, Svanström organized the first World Conference on Accident and Injury Prevention in Stockholm.[9] During the conference, a safe communities approach was outlined in reaction to a pilot Safe Community program in Falköping which had succeeded in reducing injury rates by 23%.[10] It was adopted in other countries including Norway, Denmark, France, and Canada.[11] Svanström was chair of the WHO's Collaborating Center on Community Safety Promotion, and founded its associated international network of safe communities.[12] He also led the group's certifying center until 2017.[1]

In 1990, he was invited as an expert by the Plunket Society of New Zealand to present a community program for prevention of childhood accidents.[13]

Awards and honors

In 1998, he received the International Distinguished Career Award from the American Public Health Association, in recognition of his work with injury prevention and emergency health services.[14]

In 2010, he was made a professor emeritus in social medicine at the Karolinska Institute.[15]

Personal life

He and his wife Kerstin had four children.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Till minne: Leif Svanström". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 27 February 2023. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  2. ^ Skjönberg, Guldbrand; Gutiérrez, Maria Isabel; Mohammadi, Reza; Villaveces, Andrés; Minuzzo, Barbara; Bangdiwala, Shrikant I. (2023). "Professor Emeritus Dr Leif O. Svanström, MD, PhD, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden 30 October 1943 – 29 January 2023". International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. 30 (2): 321–323. doi:10.1080/17457300.2023.2211874. S2CID 258891152.
  3. ^ "Leif Svanström, 1943-2023". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 13 March 2023 – via PressReader.
  4. ^ Dyar, Oliver J.; Haglund, Bo J. A.; Melder, Cecilia; Skillington, Tracey; Kristenson, Margareta; Sarkadi, Anna (2022). "Rainbows over the world's public health: determinants of health models in the past, present, and future". Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. 50 (7): 1047–1058. doi:10.1177/14034948221113147. ISSN 1651-1905. PMC 9578089. PMID 36076363.
  5. ^ Haglund, Bo; Svanström, Leif (1983). Samhällsmedicin: en introduktion (in Swedish). Lund Studentlitteratur.
  6. ^ Dyar, Oliver; Haglund, Bo; Kristensson, Margareta (2024). "Regnbågsmodellen som ett pedagogiskt verktyg för förståelse av determinanter för hälsa och stöd vid arbete för jämlik hälsa". Socialmedicinsk tidskrift (in Swedish). 101 (4–6): 616–628. doi:10.62607/smt.v101i4-6.33268. ISSN 2000-4192.
  7. ^ Grung, Anne Hege (7 November 2022). Complexities of Spiritual Care in Plural Societies: Education, Praxis and Concepts. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 219. ISBN 978-3-11-071736-5.
  8. ^ "Reducing health and social inequalities | Research | University of Liverpool". www.liverpool.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 8 December 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  9. ^ Hanson, Dale William; Ekman, Robert; Sleet, David (1 August 2023). "In memoriam: Leif Svanström (1943–2023)". Injury Prevention. 29 (4): 281–282. doi:10.1136/ip-2023-045011. ISSN 1353-8047. PMID 37468226.
  10. ^ Spinks, Anneliese; Turner, Cathy; Nixon, Jim; McClure, Roderick J. (8 July 2009). "The 'WHO Safe Communities' model for the prevention of injury in whole populations". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2009 (3): CD004445. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004445.pub3. ISSN 1469-493X. PMC 7197137. PMID 19588359.
  11. ^ Svanström, Leif (1997). "More safe communities programs in Scandinavia have been evaluated: repeating the results from Falköping". Injury Prevention: Journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention. 3 (3): 230–231. doi:10.1136/ip.3.3.230. ISSN 1353-8047. PMC 1067828. PMID 9338840.
  12. ^ Kirst, Maritt; Schaefer-McDaniel, Nicole; Hwang, Stephen; O'Campo, Patricia (5 November 2010). Converging Disciplines: A Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Urban Health Problems. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4419-6330-7.
  13. ^ Bryder, Linda (1 October 2013). A Voice for Mothers: The Plunket Society and Infant Welfare. Auckland University Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-77558-010-2.
  14. ^ Jansson, Bjarne (1 September 2012). "Festschrift in Honour A Safe Community – a tribute to Leif Svanström". International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. 19 (3): 189–191. doi:10.1080/17457300.2012.709724. ISSN 1745-7300.
  15. ^ Leif Svanström (Swedish) Retrieved on 17 Feb 2018
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