"Achievements in April and May"

Dear Road Safety Stakeholders,

April and May were incredibly busy for the AIP Foundation staff. From Cambodia to the Philippines and back to Vietnam, these past two months have seen over 3,000 helmets distributed, 10,000 educational flyers shared with the public, one new program launched in Cambodia, and the addition of one new member to the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative.

Some of these activities were supported by the funds raised through GlobalGiving. Thank you to everyone who donated to the GlobalGiving Open Challenge – it was a great fundraising success. In one month, we raised over USD 7,000 from over 80 donors.“To see our progress, or to donate, please visit our project page here. We are now a permanent member of the GlobalGiving site, introducing our programs to thousands of potential supporters in the United States and the United Kingdom. We will continue to update our project page on the website, and plan to add projects for our operations in Thailand and Cambodia as well. Stay tuned!

If you still wish to donate to our programs, you have an excellent chance coming up in a couple of weeks. On June 16, GlobalGiving will be matching all donations up to $1,000 per donor per project, at a 50% match. Make your gift go twice as far and donate on this day. As I mentioned, the money from GlobalGiving allowed us to implement targeted outreach activities in connection to Decree 34; the new legislation that extends mandatory helmet use to children aged six. This unrestricted funding brings our programs to more people, and lets us try new tactics and activities. Thank you for helping us be more innovative, creative and impactful.

Thank you,

Greig Craft
President/CEO
AIP Foundation/Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative

4. Thailand

5. Did you know...

In the News

GHVI: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) signs Memorandum of Understanding, joins GHVI

26 May 2010 – the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Transport Forum marked the occasion of ADB’s official endorsement and involvement in the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative. The founding members of GHVI are delighted to welcome this institution to this growing Initiative.

For more information on the Asian Development Bank please visit their website.

“UN praises Vietnam for improving road safety”

The Saigon Daily, 21 May 2010

The United Nations commended the Vietnamese government for their continued attention to strengthening road safety, on May 20.

Taking effect on May 20, Government Decree 34 addresses many important road safety issues including the requirement that children from six years of age wear helmets whenever they travel on a motorcycle.

To draw further attention to this important milestone, The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with road safety and international stakeholders will soon administer a media campaign to raise awareness among adults and parents that they are now legally responsible ensure children wear helmets.

WHO and UNICEF said they look forward to continuing their cooperation and collaboration with the Government and other partners in this important area, to achieve our common goal of saving lives on Vietnam's roads.

Source:The Saigon Daily

Helmets: fashion statement or safety device? AIP Foundation says they should be both

The Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2010

A recent article published in the Los Angeles Times, interviewed several Vietnamese people in Ho Chi Minh City about helmet use. One of them stated that wearing a helmet is “really about fashion”. The article’s title, “Helmets are a fashion must-have in Vietnam; the law says so” points to the positive trend of transforming helmets into a fashion accessory, and for some even a fashion statement.

In 2008, AIP Foundation recognized that helmet use was not trendy and socially popular and designed the “Wear a Helmet. Everywhere Every Time” public awareness campaign, engaging celebrity Ambassadors as a part of the campaign to endorse helmet use as “cool”. The article argues that the Vietnamese are now personalizing their helmets to reflect their personalities and style – a significant and positive change in helmet use attitudes even from two years ago.

However, the article also highlights that for many Vietnamese, “safety is an afterthought” when it comes to helmets, which perpetuates fatality and serious injury rates despite near-universal helmet use. This attitude, incorrect helmet use, and the use of poor quality helmets, indicate that many still do not understand the safety value of helmets. A Ministry of Health (MoH) study published in April 2010 states that the percentage of accident casualties with use of helmets of unknown origin in men is 73.04 percent. While the police fines road users for unbuckled helmets, the same MoH report also shows that accident casualties with unbuckled helmets in men is 63.75 percent

The law supports helmet use, but traffic safety and helmet education will be the final step to reducing fatalities and injuries on the roads in Vietnam. AIP Foundation continues helmet donations and helmet use training, aimed to educate the public about helmets’ safety value in addition to their value as a personal style statement. In its school-based programs, children learn about the components of a quality helmet and the proper way to wear a helmet to teach them to prioritize certain qualities when choosing a helmet for themselves. Public awareness education and outreach activities remind adults of the consequences of non-helmet use. Vietnam is also one of the implementing countries for the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative (GHVI), which will bring helmets and helmet use and traffic safety education to developing countries worldwide.

It is important for helmets to become a part of every Vietnamese person’s “outfit”, but it is equally important to help them understand that a helmet’s value goes beyond being a personal statement. The market provides the style, and AIP Foundation provides the education.

To view the entire article, please visit: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-vietnam-helmets-20100526,0,3010201.story

Recent Events

GHVI: Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia Launch

6 May 2010, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

AIP Foundation in co-ordination with the Ministry of Interior, the National Road Safety Committee and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports launched the Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia and its “One Helmet. One Life.” helmet use campaign. Co-funded by the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative (GHVI), ANZ Royal Bank (Cambodia) Ltd. and Total Cambodge, the Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia will implement public awareness campaigns and school-based programs to reduce traumatic brain injury and fatalities from road traffic crashes.

The “One Helmet. One Life.” campaign marks the pioneer project for the Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia, featuring a television drama called “Regrets” about the tragic consequences felt by a family living in Phnom Penh after a traffic accident. It also includes advertisements at Total’s 32 service stations nationwide and ANZ Royal Bank’s 126 ATM machines throughout the country; as well as advertisement panels on the back of Tuk-Tuks (3-wheeler motorcycle taxi) in Phnom Penh. “Regrets” will air from 12 May on TV3, every Wednesday from 7.30 – 8.30pm, and every Friday from 10.30 – 11.30pm.

Highlight of the launch event was the donation of 2,050 Protec “tropical” helmets to students and teachers of Toul Tum Phong and Bak Touk Primary Schools in Phnom Penh - generously co-sponsored by ANZ Royal Bank and Infinity Insurance. A Tuk-Tuk and motorcycle parade through the city of Phnom Penh followed the event.

Cambodian Prime Minister Endorses the Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia’s Media Campaign

On 12 May, His Excellency Hun Sen delivered a message to the Cambodian people about the importance of helmet use, and the effect of traffic crashes on the entire family, and Cambodia as a whole. This endorsement message will air before every episode of the Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia’s television miniseries ‘Regrets’. We already mention this above For more information on the event that launched this miniseries, and the Helmet Vaccine Coalition activities in Cambodia, please follow this link: http://asiainjury.org/main/updates-newsreader/items/one-helmet-one-life-launch-of-the-helmet-vaccine-coalition-cambodia.html .

Photo: Signing of the Plaque

Photo: Symbolic Helmet Handover

Photo: Double-line of Tuk-Tuks

AIP Foundation distributes leaflets and trains parents on the new Decree 34

19-20 May 2010

AIP Foundation launched a new intervention that targets parents’ education and awareness on child helmet use. A mobile education unit with trained staffs and volunteers visited 20 primary schools during lunch and after-school pick up times in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to distribute leaflets, speak with parents, and answer any questions about Decree 34 and child helmet use.

These activities were in anticipation of 20 May 2010, the date that Decree 34 will come into effect. It stipulates adults carrying children over the age of six without a helmet on a motorbike will be fined 100,000 – 200,000 VND. In support of Decree 34, AIP Foundation plans to identify areas throughout the country with low child helmet use and will use this focused intervention to educate parents.

Additionally, AIP Foundation staff circulated a letter to the parents of all Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City primary schools involved in AIP Foundation programs requesting that parents pledge to put a helmet on their children every day before they get on a motorbike.

“Parents vaccinate their children against tuberculosis, polio and measles. Putting a helmet on your child reduces their chance of serious brain injury by 79 percent and of death by 42 percent. Helmets are like a vaccine, they protect your child’s health,” states Mirjam Sidik, Executive Director of AIP Foundation.

The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative presents Helmets for Kids in Manila, Philippines

26 May 2010

Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative (GHVI) co-founders, the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) and the FIA Foundation, worked with the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to donate 1,000 helmets to primary school students in Manila. The first of its kind in the Philippines, this ceremony was organized in tandem with the Asian Development Bank Transport Forum.

The Forum also marks the official announcement of the Asian Development Bank’s commitment to the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, with the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.

Highlights include a helmet use training session with Michelle Yeoh, international film actress and Make Roads Safe Goodwill Ambassador, a symbolic helmet handover ceremony, and a fashion show by the students, displaying traffic-safety themed costumes.

According to the 2009 WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety, motorbikes constitute almost half of the vehicles on the Philippines’ roads, but there is no national helmet use law, no helmet standards, and wearing rates remain as low as 34 percent. Intervention is essential to change the road safety behavior – and the political and legislative road safety environment – of the Philippines. Helmets for Kids is a program piloted in Vietnam and implemented around the world; the impact of helmets and traffic safety education is great. Helmets reduce the chance of death by 42 percent and serious injury by 79 percent.

Vietnam

Safe Kids Walk This Way Evaluation

AIP Foundation launched its Safe Kids - Walk This Way program in December of 2009 and has been implementing pedestrian safety activities over the past six months. As the school year came to a close, AIP Foundation evaluated the impact of the Walk This Way program. In April, AIP Foundation staff conducted post-tests and distributed engineering improvement questionnaires to the four project schools and one non-project school.

Additionally, 1,000 post-tests regarding pedestrian safety knowledge and skills were conducted at the four project schools, and one non-project school to compare the in about the pedestrian knowledge. Questionnaires were delivered to teachers, parents and students at the four project schools to collect their ideas for environment improvements around their schools.

In order to get the feedback for engineering modifications around the schools, we conducted interviews and distributed questionnaires to parents and teachers of the four target schools.

Observations from AIP Foundation's Child Helmet Use Outreach Activities

AIP Foundation staff and volunteers observed child helmet use on 19 and 20 May in conjunction with their Decree 34 outreach activities. They interviewed parents about Decree 34 and child helmet use, and also recorded general observations about helmet use rates at the target schools.

The helmet use rate was in general, higher at the target schools compared observations made on the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Average child helmet use rates were observed to be 25 percent in Ho Chi Minh City and 39 percent in Hanoi. Target school helmet rates averaged 46 percent in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Most of the parents had not heard about the new Decree 34, effective from 20 May. The lack of advertising campaigns from the relevant authorities were to blame according to those surveyed
The increase of fine in the Decree 34 will affect parents’ decisions to enforce child helmet use
Some parents required information, an explanation about the components of a helmet, and how it protects their children’s heads during an accident
When asked, many parents said that in the past, they used to require their kids to wear helmets but that after a while, they felt it was inconvenient and stopped enforcing helmet use for their kids. Additionally, some of them still believe that helmets will negatively affect children’s neck and spinal health

Advocacy and Outreach: Decree 34 Takes Effect on 20 May 2010

In addition to the above-mentioned 100,000 – 200,000 VND fine for child non-helmet use, the amendment includes several other road safety measures: increased fines for carrying more than one passenger over the age of fourteen; triple to quadruple the original fine for running red lights; double the original fine for driving the wrong way down a one-way street; and up to a 1.4 million VND, or approximately 75 US dollars, fine for drink driving.

Officials will monitor the increased penalty system in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi for 36 months in a pilot project, after which time officials may chose to extend the same fines to the rest of the country. In support of Decree 34, AIP Foundation plans to identify areas throughout the country with low child helmet use and use this focused intervention to educate parents

Thailand

Our Thailand office is temporarily closed due to the civil unrest that has over taken Bangkok. AIP Foundation staff member Nat Poositranusorn writes about the experience:

Scenes of intense arguments, loud outbursts, intimidation tactics and lawless acts pervade television reports every night. Inevitably, children are the victims of negative images and influences. Dr. Suriyadheva Tripati, Director of the National Institute for Child and Family Development said “The children lack good social role models today”.

In the coming months, AIP Foundation Thailand will work with Diversey Hygiene Co., Ltd. to implement Helmets for Kids programs in and around Bangkok. We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Diversey Hygiene Co., Ltd over the past two years and we hope other partners will follow their example by supporting our work.

The current situation in Bangkok, reinforced by child psychology research, demands a clear need for positive influences on Thailand’s youth. AIP Foundation promotes education and empowerment for children in schools and on the nation’s roads. Through our programs, we do not “just give a helmet away” but we seek to improve children’s moral compasses and to teach them how to be proactive members of society. We teach children consideration and conscientiousness, one part of which is wearing a helmet and acting responsibly in traffic.

AIP Foundation Thailand is currently developing a comprehensive Road Safety Course, which will instill knowledge and skills in children at a young age. We, the adults of Bangkok, Thailand and the world, can help promote peace by being strong role models and educators for our children. It can begin on our roads today and expand into our society in the future.

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