A study into New Zealand military fatalities during the First World War says many of them could have been prevented had there been better planning, healthcare and equipment. Some 16703 New Zealanders died in the war between July 1914 and November 1918 and it remains the worst single fatal event in this country's history. The research is published in the New Zealand Medical Journal and is the first in-depth modern study of death and injury in the war. Lead researcher Associate Professor Nick Wilson, from Otago University, says the risk of dying in the fighting decreased over the four years of the war but the chance of dying of wounds did not.