"Helmet Vaccine Newsletter - Aug/Sept 2010"

Dear Road Safety Stakeholders,

In recent months, AIP Foundation has been showcasing our achievements at conferences from New York to London. We are also continuing to build strong partnerships in Cambodia, India, Tanzania, and Uganda.

A highlight of these travels was my trip to New York for the Clinton Global Initiative, where I was invited on stage with Bill Clinton in recognition of the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative’s commitment to work in Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and Uganda over the next three years.

Thanks for your continued support and please keep in touch with any road safety news.

Sincerely,

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

Recent Events

Bill Clinton Formally Recognizes AIP Foundation’s Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative

New York, 22 September 2010

Greig Craft, president of the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation, announced today onstage at the Clinton Global Initiative a commitment to implement road safety programs in 94 schools across 4 countries over the next 3 years. These programs will reach 357,000 students, parents, and teachers through direct interventions and 81 million people indirectly through public awareness education in Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and Uganda.

AIP Foundation will implement these interventions acting as the lead NGO for the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, an international coalition launched in 2009 with founding partners the FIA Foundation and World Bank Global Road Safety Facility. Recently, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have joined this coalition. The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative operates under the mission “a helmet on every head” in the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011 to 2020). Helmets have been proven to reduce the likelihood of serious brain injury by 69% and fatality by 42%.

Photo: Greig Craft is invited on stage in recognition of AIP Foundation’s commitment to road safety

“We are honored to have our work recognized by Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative. This recognition highlights the importance of using helmets as a vaccine against the rising epidemic of traffic fatalities” said Craft.

On September 21, Craft delivered a presentation on the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative during the Promoting Safe Roads Action Network at the Clinton Global Initiative. In addition, the FIA Foundation announced a multi-year financial commitment to the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative.

David Ward, Director General of the FIA Foundation, said: “The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative is the core element of our ten year, US $1 million a year, CGI commitment for improving road user behavior during the Decade of Action. Ensuring motorcycle users always wear a helmet is one of the most cost effective ways to reduce death and injury. GHVI is delivering a vaccine that has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives.”

AIP Foundation was pleased to receive an invitation to attend the Clinton Global Initiative, an international conference that promotes collaboration between the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and other global leaders to effectively confront the world’s most pressing problems with an emphasis on tangible results. In 2000, Bill Clinton launched AIP Foundation’s signature Helmets for Kids program in Vietnam. Since then, AIP Foundation has donated over 500,000 helmets to children in developing countries worldwide.

Traffic fatalities are on par with the death tolls from the world’s major diseases, including malaria and tuberculosis, though they receive a fraction of the attention. The WHO predicts that traffic fatalities will rise from the current rate of 1.2 million per year to 2 million per year by 2020. Children account for 40% of traffic fatalities and developing countries bear 96% of the global burden of child deaths.

Photo: Greig Craft promotes universal helmet use with Michelle Yeoh, Road Safety Goodwill Ambassador, and Julia Ormond

CDC Delegation Visits Vietnam and Cambodia

Hanoi, 30 June 2010

In August, AIP Foundation hosted CDC delegates David Sleet, Associate Director for Science, and Mick Ballesteros, Deputy Associate Director for Science, in Vietnam and Cambodia. AIP Foundation arranged meetings to introduce the CDC to key road safety stakeholders, helping the delegation understand the roles of international organizations, national authorities, and hospitals in the regional network.

As a member of the global steering committee of the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, the CDC will provide funding and guidance for monitoring and evaluation of the Helmet Vaccine Initiatives in Cambodia and Uganda. Meetings were therefore scheduled to acquire information on existing injury surveillance systems, traffic safety policies, and opportunities for capacity building in both Vietnam and Cambodia.

During their trip to Cambodia, the CDC delegates met with representatives from the AIP Foundation, which acts as the lead NGO for the Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative, as well as stakeholders from the Ministry of Interior, Handicap International Belgium, the University of Health Services, the National Police, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and the Ministry of Health.

In Vietnam, the CDC met with representatives from the WHO, US Embassy, National Traffic Safety Committee, Hanoi School of Public Health, Ho Chi Minh City General Department of Police, Cho Ray Hospital, and the Ministry of Health.

AIP Foundation Delivers Presentation at Safety 2010 Conference

London, 23 September 2010

AIP Foundation’s senior partnership specialist, Lotte Brondum, attended the 10th World Conference on Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention in London, from September 21st through the 24th. Ms. Brondum attended sessions on best practices in promoting road safety, with a particular focus on preventing child injuries.

In addition, Ms. Brondum delivered a 15 minute presentation on the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative during the “Motorcycles: Road Safety” session on Thursday, September 23rd. The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative is an international coalition led by the AIP Foundation, FIA Foundation, World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, IDB, and the CDC, with the goal of “a helmet on every head” in the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020). Helmets are a vaccine against the rising epidemic of road traffic fatalities, as they reduce the likelihood of fatality from a road traffic crash by 42% and the likelihood of injury by 69%. Ms. Brondum’s presentation provided an overview of the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, highlighting AIP Foundation’s success in Vietnam and the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative’s plan to use this proven model in other developing countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Photo: Lotte Brondum at the Vietnam Injury Prevention Partnership booth with Adrian Walsh, Director
of RoadSafe, and Bikash Mohapatra, Secretary of the Forum for Prevention of Road Accidents

Ms. Brondum also co-hosted the Vietnam Injury Prevention Partnership’s information booth, providing materials to other conference attendees about AIP Foundation and the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative. The Vietnam Injury Prevention Partnership is a group of stakeholders including the WHO, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Health, and the Hanoi School of Public Health, who share the common goal of promoting road safety in Vietnam.

Other presentations about Vietnam included “Motorcycle Helmet Usage to Improve Road Traffic Safety in Vietnam,” delivered by the Ministry of Health; “Road Safety for Xe-Om Riders in Hoi An Bus Station, Da Nang City, Vietnam,” delivered by the WHO; “Essential Trauma Care Capacity for Road Traffic Injury in 5 Provinces in Vietnam,” delivered by the Ministry of Health.

AIP Foundation Represents Vietnam at Safe Kids Worldwide Conference

London, 19-20 September 2010

Safe Kids Worldwide, a global networking organization that promotes child safety, hosted representatives from each of the countries within its network for an injury prevention conference. Participants shared best practices based on experiences in their own countries on different safety-related topics, including road safety, drowning, and home safety.

AIP Foundation’s senior partnership specialist Lotte Brondum attended the conference and co-delivered a presentation on road safety alongside participants from China, India, and New Zealand. Vietnam has made significant recent strides in improving road safety for children with the May 2010 passage of Decree 34, a law requiring children ages 6 years and older to wear helmets. However, this law has proven difficult to enforce and AIP Foundation continues to advocate for expanding the law to all age groups.

Photo:Lotte Brondum at the Safe Kids Worldwide conference with Anjali Burma, Safe Kids India;
Ann Weaver, Safe Kids New Zealand; Lingzi Liu, Safe Kids Worldwide; and Ratana Winther, Safe Kids India

News Updates

OECD Publishes Data Showing a Record Decade for Road Safety

Paris, 15 September 2010

The Paris-based International Transport Forum (ITF) – a branch of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - released a report about road safety developments over the past decade in 33 countries. Spain, Portugal, and France made the most pronounced reductions in fatality rates from road traffic crashes, while the US celebrated its lowest traffic fatality rate in 60 years in 2009.

These advances are major victories in the global fight for road safety; however, a great deal of work remains to be done, primarily in developing countries. Compared to 2000, traffic fatalities are predicted to decrease by 30% in developed countries in the next decade, while they are expected to increase by 83% in developing countries during the same time period, according to the WHO. The AIP Foundation’s Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative – an international coalition comprised of road safety stakeholders including the FIA Foundation, the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, the CDC, and the IDB - aims to combat the growing toll of traffic fatalities on developing countries.

The ITF report cited an overall decrease in motorcycle fatalities, though some countries saw increases in fatality rates of over 100%. The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative is committed to reducing motorcycle fatality rates by providing helmets and helmet use education to developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

To learn more about the ITF report, please click here.

Road Safety’s Impact on the Millennium Development Goals

The FIA Foundation’s Make Roads Safe campaign published a report featuring statistics that demonstrate the impact of road traffic crashes on a country’s progress toward the Millennium Development Goals.

Road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death worldwide for young adults ages 15 – 29 and the second leading cause of death for children ages 5-14. Vulnerable road users are at particular risk, accounting for 70% of fatalities in developing countries. In addition, road traffic crashes consume 1– 3% of GDP in developing countries, which often surpasses the amount these countries receive in foreign aid. Though the death toll from road traffic crashes is comparable to fatality rates from malaria and tuberculosis, road safety rarely receives the same attention in the media. Through public awareness education, AIP Foundation hopes to shine the spotlight on this hidden epidemic. AIP Foundation currently conducts public awareness campaigns in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Senegal.

For the full publication, please click here.

Vietnam Ahead of Deadline for Millennium Development Goals

A government report for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit in New York showed that Vietnam has already met or surpassed the majority of the MDGs ahead of the 2015 deadline.

Vietnam has made great strides in poverty reduction, universal primary education, gender equality, child mortality reduction, and improvements to maternal health.

“[Vietnam] is a world leader in poverty reduction,” said UN Resident Coordinator John Hendra.

Though reducing road traffic fatalities is not included in the MDGs, Vietnam has made significant progress on this issue as well. Since the 2007 passage of the mandatory adult helmet law, helmet use rates among adults have consistently been above 90%, resulting in a 24% reduction in injuries and a 12% reduction in fatalities.

However, there is still room for improvement. Child helmet use rates remain low, despite the government’s passage of Decree 34 in May 2010, requiring children ages 6 years and older to wear helmets. Unfortunately, the burden of proving a child’s age falls to the police and, as a result, this law is difficult to enforce. AIP Foundation continues to advocate for a universal helmet law mandating helmet use for all ages. In January 2011, AIP Foundation will launch a 3-year public awareness campaign focused on child helmet use with the support of Atlantic Philanthropies.

For the full article in Vietnam News, please click here.

Spurt of Fatal Road Traffic Crashes Attracts Media Attention in Lebanon

A recent road traffic crash killing six people and injuring 19 in Lebanon caught headlines as yet one more incident in a spate of road traffic crashes throughout the summer. Newspapers are comparing Lebanon’s death toll from road traffic crashes to casualties suffered in the 2006 war with Israel.

Jamil Mroue, editor-in-chief of the Daily Star, wrote in an editorial:

“The lamentable reality of Lebanese road culture tends to register only in the event of a catastrophe; traffic laws and safety, on the contrary, are not a seasonal issue. This is a crisis repeated daily, and we need to address it with the immediacy and gravity it deserves.”

Kunhadi, a local organization that promotes road safety among youth, is responding to this crisis by launching a helmet use campaign with the donation 1,000 Protec helmets to deliverymen. The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative donated an additional 100 helmets to the cause. Greig Craft, CEO of the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, will attend the launch ceremony in October.

Vietnam

Diversey Hygiene Sponsors First Helmets for Kids Event in the New School Year

Hai Duong, 5 September 2010

Diversey Hygiene (formerly Johnson Diversey) celebrated its strong commitment to promoting traffic safety for Vietnamese children this school year (2010-2011) through sponsorship of AIP Foundation’s Helmets for Kids program at Cam Thuong primary school in Hai Duong City. The donation, facilitated by Stefan Phang, Regional Director, EHS & Security of the Greater Asia Pacific Region, included the provision of 388 crash helmets for new first grade students and older students who required replacement helmets, as well as traffic safety education for over 1,000 school children and parents.

The helmet handover ceremony was held in the schoolyard on the morning of September 5 and coincided with the school’s re-opening event to welcome the students back from three months of summer vacation. During the ceremony, guests enjoyed many performances, songs, and speeches. Students also watched and participated in a magic show performed by Stefan Phang, who then used a watermelon to demonstrate how a helmet can protect the head.

Photo: Stefan Phang enjoying the ceremony with schoolchildren

Photo: First grade students model their helmets

Safe Kids Walk This Way Constructs Traffic Safety Park

Dong Nai, 14 September 2010

AIP Foundation, acting as Safe Kids Vietnam (SKV), began construction of a Traffic Safety Park in Dong Nai in September.
Photo: Model of Traffic Safety Park

AIP Foundation, acting as Safe Kids Vietnam (SKV), began construction of a Traffic Safety Park in Dong Nai in September.

Prior to construction, SKV conducted surveys at five primary schools in Dong Nai and selected Quang Bien Primary School as the project’s primary beneficiary for the pedestrian program sponsored by FedEx Express. The school is located in a dangerous area in the Trang Bom District, which has a high rate of road traffic crashes. In addition, sixty percent of students at Quang Bien Primary School commute to school on foot; these students will benefit from the ability to practice safe walking skills in the Traffic Safety Park. Students from other schools are invited to come and practice traffic safety skills in the Park as well.

The Traffic Safety Park’s design was outlined in collaboration with the Dong Nai Traffic Safety Committee and Department of Education. They supported the concept of building a small city with highways, one and two ways streets, a pedestrian bridge, a railway, traffic signs, sidewalks, and intersections with a set of four traffic lights.

School teachers and local authorities also supported the project and expressed their strong commitment to SKV’s pedestrian safety programs in Dong Nai province. In addition to the Traffic Safety Park in Dong Nai, SKV implements a Walk This Way program at four schools in Ho Chi Minh City, where students receive lessons in pedestrian safety.

Cambodia

Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative Signs MoU with the General Commissariat of National Police

Phnom Penh, 5 August 2010

The Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the General Commissariat of National Police, Ministry of Interior, in August. The MoU is a testament to the partnership between the General Commissariat of National Police and the Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative for promoting road safety nationwide.

Greig Craft, President of the AIP Foundation, which acts as the lead NGO for the Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative, signed the MoU alongside Lt. Gen. Chan Kimseng, the Director of the Central Department of Public Order in the Ministry of Interior.

In Cambodia, motorcycle riders comprised 71% of road traffic fatalities in 2009. The Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative implements school-based education, helmet distribution programs, and public awareness campaigns to encourage universal helmet use.

Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative Signs MoU with the General Commissariat of National Police
Greig Craft signs MoU with Lt. Gen. Chan Kimseng, Director of the Central Department of Public Order

Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative Television Drama “Regrets” Improves Viewers’ Attitudes Toward Road Safety

Phnom Penh, 13 August 2010

In May 2010, the Cambodia Helmet Vaccine Initiative aired a highly popular television drama – “Regrets” – as a part of its ‘One Helmet. One Life.’ public awareness campaign. This television mini-series demonstrates the consequences of road traffic crashes on a personal level and was endorsed by the Prime Minister, who delivered a message on the importance of road safety at the beginning of each episode.

Surveys found that “Regrets” viewers were 10 percent more likely to report always making a child wear a helmet when riding on a motorbike. In addition, viewers were 1.4 times more likely to report always wearing a helmet when riding a motorbike. Finally, the mini-series helped combat the “it will never happen to me” notion among viewers, who were 1.3 times more likely to feel it was possible that they, their family, and friends could get into a serious traffic accident.

“Regrets” was also aired during the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and RS10’s workshop on the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety on August 12 – 13 in Phnom Penh. The workshop’s objective was to launch the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) by developing a comprehensive and measurable 10-year Cambodia National Road Safety Action Plan to reduce road traffic crashes and associated injuries and fatalities.

Road Safety Workshops Highlight Importance of Helmet Use

Four road safety workshops held over the past two months have highlighted the importance of increasing helmet use in Cambodia. These workshops include:

A workshop on the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011 to 2020) hosted by the GRSP and RS10
A training workshop on enforcing helmet and drink-driving laws for police co-hosted by Handicap International and the National Road Safety Committee
Two RS10 workshops on helmet use and drink-driving

In Cambodia, every day 5 people die and 19 people suffer severe injuries that remove them from the workforce and burden their families because of road traffic crashes. According to the WHO, helmets reduce the likelihood of severe injury from road traffic crashes by 69% and reduce the likelihood of death by 42%.

Thailand

Students Receive Lessons in Road Safety at Thai Schools

Pathumthani, 21 September 2010

On September 21st, AIP Foundation Thailand’s staff joined Police Senior Sergeant Major Sommai Nain to teach road safety lessons and signage to students at Wat Lanna School, Glangklongsib School, and Wat Adisorn School in Pathumthani Province. These lessons were part of AIP Foundation’s Helmets for Kids program, a helmet distribution and road safety education intervention sponsored by Diversey Hygiene. In November, Sofitel Bangkok Silom will join Diversey Hygiene as a Helmets for Kids sponsor in Thailand.