2024-09-17 09:41:00
September 17, 2024
The World Health Organization (WHO), through its Regional Director for South-East Asia, Saima Wazed, urged the 10 countries that make up this region (Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam) accelerate measures to reduce deaths from road accidents. The appeal, launched during the 15th World Conference on Accident Prevention and Promotion of Safety (Safety 2024), is justified because in this part of the planet road accidents are one of the main causes of mortality among young people aged 15 to 29 years.
To save more lives, the WHO Regional Director asked these countries to focus their efforts on the most vulnerable road users. “Vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and two- and three-wheeled vehicles, make up 66% of all road traffic deaths reported in our region,” said Saima Wazed during the conference, underlining that “our roads and our road networks must be designed with priority given to those most at risk: children and adolescents, people with disabilities, pedestrians and other vulnerable groups.”
In Southeast Asia, according to WHO 2021 data28% of road fatalities occur worldwide. If we do not act in time, future predictions could not reach the objectives of reducing road deaths by 50% in each country.
Furthermore, this region has its own idiosyncrasies that must be respected to achieve results. The WHO highlighted that, unlike other countries which have higher incomes, and therefore can focus their road safety measures on motorists and passengers; Countries in this region, with lower incomes, must prioritize the safety of vulnerable road users, both pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of two- and three-wheeled vehicles, to reduce the number of accidents, injuries and deaths.
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