Dear friends and supporters, I'm writing hoping that the first months of 2014 and the year of the horse have been safe and happy for you and your loved ones. We have had an onslaught of good news: the launch World Health Organization's new online library of road safety campaigns, Vietnam's new decree on helmet quality, and the passage of the National Road Safety Policy in Cambodia. Our teams have been hard at work to build on this progress, notably the completion of four experimental trials to promote child helmet use in Thailand and the expansion of the Walk Wise project in China. Please read on to find out more. Kind regards, Mirjam Sidik
1. Global
2. Vietnam
3. Cambodia
4. Thailand
5. China
6. Uganda
News Update: Roads kill: The toll of traffic accidents is rising in poor countries – It has a global death toll of 1.24 million per year and is on course to triple to 3.6 million per year by 2030. In the developing world, it will become the fifth leading cause of death, leapfrogging past HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other familiar killers, according to the most recent Global Burden of Disease study…This global killer is our most necessary accessory, the essential thing that gets us from here to there: the motorized vehicle.
WHO features two AIP Foundation TVCs in its online library of road safety mass media campaigns
The World Health Organization launched its new online library of road safety mass media campaigns on January 27 to support strong public awareness efforts around the world. The library features 60 campaigns, with topics ranging from drunk driving to seat belts and submitted by countries from Brazil to Turkey, including two of AIP Foundation's motorcycle helmet TV commercials - "Always Care. Always Wear A Helmet." from Cambodia and "When I Grow Up…" from Vietnam. These videos will become a resource for other government- and/or NGO-run campaigns around the world advocating motorcycle helmet wearing. Read more about the new library here.
News Update: WHO hails Vietnam's new rule on crash helmet quality – A new regulation requires motorists to wear helmets certified as meeting national quality standards from January 1. Under Decree 171, the penalty for wearing a substandard helmet is similar to the one for not wearing a helmet.
Abbott conducts head measurement for school children in Ho Chi Minh City
Abbott Laboratories and AIP Foundation visited 1,094 students at Cau Xang Primary School in Binh Chanh District of Ho Chi Minh City to measure head sizes for an upcoming helmet donation. Cau Xang is one of four schools participating in Helmets for Families, through which Abbott and AIP Foundation will donate helmets for 4,291 students and 181 teachers. The project will also subsidize or exchange helmets that meet the national standard for the students' parents. Helmets for Families aims to raise awareness among students and parents of the safety value of wearing helmets that meet the national standard. By donating free and subsidized helmets, as well as exchanging parents' substandard helmets for new standard helmets, Abbott and AIP Foundation hope parents will model for their children the positive habit of wearing standard a helmet. In the 2013-14 school year, the program is being piloted at four primary schools in Binh Chanh District and District 12 of Ho Chi Minh City. In the next two years, Helmets for Families will be expanded to areas of the Mekong Delta and Hanoi. Check out the photos Singer Thai Thuy Linh and The Voice Kids encourage children to wear helmets
AIP Foundation and local government partners in Hanoi organized a "Kids love helmets" Family Day at Le Loi Primary School in Ha Dong District on February 15. Singers Thai Thuy Linh, The Voice Kids, and Duc Anh from The Doremi show performed at the event to raise awareness about the importance of putting helmets on children. The "Kids love helmets" Family Day was organized for students and parents, and included many fun activities for learning about traffic safety. Children had the opportunity to engage in many games, learn how to use helmets, and talk with famous artists about traffic safety. More than 2,000 people including students, parents, and representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training, National Traffic Safety Committee, Police Department, Hanoi Traffic Safety Committee, and Department of Education and Training, joined the event. Family Day is one of the main activities of a national public awareness campaign in Vietnam, titled "Children also need a helmet," which began in 2011 with the goal of improving the rate of helmet use among children, correcting parents' misconceptions about child helmet use, and increasing awareness about road safety. The "Kids love helmets" Family Day in Hanoi is the last activity of Phase III of the campaign, which ran from September to December 2013. Stakeholders review child helmet campaign and plan for continued activities
A national workshop on child helmet use took place in Hanoi on February 18. 36 attendees, including government and international representatives, reviewed the implementation of the national campaign "Children also need a helmet" over the last three years. Participants also discussed a national plan to sustain and further increase the child helmet wearing rates in 2014. Nguyen Dieu Nuong, AIP Founation's Director of Programs lead discussions with strong support from the National Traffic Safety Committee, Ministry of Education and Training and National Traffic Police (C67), in creating and implementing a national school helmet manual. The manual will be a comprehensive guide, providing a compilation of best practices to increase helmet rates in schools, how to set school policies, recommendations, evaluations and implementation. The manual will leverage the success of the "Children also need a helmet" campaign and ties in with the advocacy work being placed to urge the government to enforce the child helmet law nationally. Check out the photos! Prince Michael of Kent joins
Helmets for Kids and presents International Road Safety Award
His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince of Kent, Michael George Charles Franklin, attended a Helmets for Kids kick-off ceremony, organized by AIP Foundation at Van Phuc Primary School in Hanoi on February 28. On this occasion, the FIA Foundation donated more than 1,100 helmets to students and teachers. HRH Prince Michael also presented the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award to Vietnam Television (VTV) in recognition of VTV's positive contributions to road safety awareness in Vietnam. At the start of the event, HRH Prince Michael of Kent visited with students as they participated in road safety-themed activities and talked with them about the importance of road safety. Students decorated helmets, practiced their knowledge of traffic signs, and competed in a bicycling contest. During the ceremony, Mr. Antony Stokes, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Vietnam taught students how to wear helmets correctly by showing them the three steps of helmet wearing. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, representative of VTV, received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award to recognize the achievements of VTV in raising awareness about road safety nationwide. As a government-owned television station, VTV plays a vital role in disseminating information to the public. The station provides instant updates on new government traffic regulations and hosts traffic safety-themed television segments, including "Traffic Story on Sunday" and its annual broadcast commemorating the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Check out the photos & press release!
News update: Plan aims to cut road deaths – The National Policy on Road Safety, passed by the Council of Ministers on Friday February 21, is an expansion of the existing Road Safety Action Plan for 2011-2020. It will see the budget for the project quintupled, from $2 million a year to $10 million a year. Under the new policy, Cambodia will implement the United Nations' five road safety strategies, as well as three Cambodia-specific plans to reduce road traffic crashes in order to prevent deaths, injuries, disabilities and property loss and the effects on environment in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
AIP Foundation has been advocating for approval of the National Road Safety Policy and 10-year Action Plans for many years. During the 2012 and 2013 National Road Safety Weeks and a number of occasions AIP Foundation Cambodia Country Director appealed to the government to approve the National Road Safety Policy, it's 10 Year Action Plan, and the draft amendment of the motorcycle helmet law. Moreover, through its joint statement submitted to H.E Minister of Transport in January 2013 which was officially released in April 2013, in coordination with Handicap International and Coalition for Road Safety, AIP Foundation again encouraged Cambodia's government and legislative bodies to approve the policy, the draft passenger including child helmet law and the three-year helmet action plan. The statement was supported by over 100 stakeholders, and was specifically referred to in the UN Secretary-General's report Improving Global Road Safety Report in November 2013. Continuing AIP Foundation's strong partnership with the Cambodian National Police
On January 28, Greig Craft, President of AIP Foundation met with H.E Lt. General Ouk Kim Lek, Secretary of State of Ministry of Interior to discuss the continuation of the partnership between AIP Foundation and the Cambodian National Police. The aim of the meeting was to gain support for AIP Foundation's new future programs for motorcycle passengers, including a child helmet campaign. The Interventions include, school based programs, behavior change campaigns and advocacy support. Other topics discussed in the meeting included the possibility of a constructing a non-profit Protec Helmet factory in Cambodia. CDC visits Cambodia to assist with improving helmet observation methodologies
From February 17-19, members from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) visited Cambodia in efforts to improve current helmet observation methodologies. During the visit CDC met with AIP Foundation's research partner to discuss observation studies. They joined field visits to project sites and joined a helmet observation at a target school in Phnom Penh. With the support and guidance from CDC, AIP Foundation aim to improve their current helmet observation methodologies to provide clearer data. Manulife Cambodia's Helmets for Families brings road safety knowledge to students and parents
From January 24-25, Helmets for Families, sponsored by Manulife Cambodia, organized road safety activities at Wat Preah Put Primary School in Phnom Penh. To follow-up on Manulife's donation of 647 helmets to students, teachers, and mothers last month, 100 students participated in extracurricular activities, including a road safety question and answer (Q&A) session, drawing contests, and safety lessons for pedestrians and bicyclists. 50 parents learned about the importance of helmet use for themselves and their children. Post-donation education reinforces the importance of helmet use and safe road behavior and encourages students and parents continue to wear their helmets consistently and properly, especially during the Lunar New Year celebrations, when road crashes are on the rise. Check out the photos! Chevron trains 400 high school students in helmet safety and safe road behavior
AIP Foundation in partnership with Chevron, trained 400 students from Hun Sen Bun Rany High School in helmet safety on January 28. Students learned about the impact and scale of road crashes in Cambodia, the importance of wearing a helmet to prevent road injury, and how to wear a helmet correctly. Following the training, students committed to wear helmets no matter distance and time, and they individually signed the petition to support mandate for passenger, including child, helmet use. These activities follow Chevron's December donation of 900 helmets for teachers and students at Hun Sen Bun Rany High School. This donation contributes to broader a public awareness campaign for passenger helmet use. Monitoring and evaluation is ongoing throughout the 2013-14 school year. Annual Health Fair promotes helmet use
On February 7, AIP Foundation joined the U.S. Embassy's Seventh Annual Health Fair in Phnom Penh to raise awareness about the importance of helmet use. AIP Foundation was nominated to be a stall-holder at the Fair, where it displayed promotional materials, Protec helmets, general road safety information, and background on its projects. Approximately 500 people attended the Health Fair and many expressed interest in the work of AIP Foundation and road safety in Cambodia. Following helmet donations from private sector partners, Manulife Cambodia and Chevron, the assemblies reinforced students’ road safety training and encouraged them to share the information with their friends and family. At the assemblies, students were informed about general school issues and then asked questions to test their recall of knowledge about helmets, traffic laws, and road safety with prizes for correct answers. Check out the photos!
News update: New Year: Carnage on Thailand's roads – Thailand's death toll over the seven days of the New Year holiday reached 366 with more than 3,000 injured. The toll was worse than the daily kill rate achieved in high-risk war zones and a reminder that Thailand's roads are among the most risky in the world.
Second "pop-up" child helmet retail kiosk piloted at gas station in Bangkok
On January 7, AIP Foundation launched a second "pop-up" helmet retail kiosk at a gas station in Suan Luang, Bangkok. The kiosk aimed to increase accessibility to children's helmets. For two weeks, the kiosk sold child helmets and trained staff interviewed customers about the motivations behind their purchases. The findings of the trial revealed that petrol stations present a number of challenges for helmet retail in terms of customers' time and demand, as well as inventory management. The combination of these factors leads to the conclusion that child helmet retail at petrol stations is not viable. However, results of other pilot activities indicate that schools may be a more effective child helmet retail channel. The petrol station kiosk is just one of four small experimental trials, including a helmet bank, police enforcement, and outreach through taxi stands, conducted throughout Bangkok from November 2013 to January 2014. These trials, funded by the FIA Foundation and the Road Safety Fund, gauged the efficacy of innovative measures to increase child helmet use, ultimately to build an effective campaign in Thailand. 140 primary school students in Bangkok receive helmets as part of a helmet enforcement pilot
Vespiario (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Generously donated 140 helmets to students of Thai Rath Wittaya 75 Primary School in Bangkok on January 9. AIP Foundation also conducted a training on correct helmet use, followed by remarks from representatives of the Royal Thai Police and the Office of the Basic Education Commission. The ceremony marked the end of an experimental trial, conducted in partnership with Save the Children, during which police enforced helmet wearing at the school. Over the course of two weeks, local police officers patrolled the school's entrance to enforce helmet use. Students' response to the extra police presence was measured through helmet observations and focus group discussions. With enforcement from police, helmet wearing rates for children traveling on motorcycles at Thai Rath Witthaya 75 increased from 7 to 14 percent. The limited increase in children's helmet wearing may be due to the restricted police resources available for the trial and a lack of willingness to issue fines for those who did not wear helmets. AIP Foundation will continue high-level negotiations to increase widespread police enforcement of the helmet law and organize activities to allow local police officers to educate the community about the helmet law along with law enforcement activities. Check out the photos! UPS sponsors second year of Helmets for Kids in Udon Thani, Thailand
The UPS Foundation and AIP Foundation commenced the second year of the Helmets for Kids project in Udon Thani with a donation of 2,697 helmets to children of Ban Makkhang School and Nong Sumrong Wittaya School. The helmet donation was celebrated with "Road Safety Day" events at each school on February 11 and 13 to promote the continued use of helmets and to raise road safety awareness among children. Students worked on road safety-themed artwork and assignments, competing with each other for prizes. Following the first donation of over 4,300 helmets in the 2012-13 school year, The UPS Foundation is continuing its support in these two schools to create a "safety culture" among students. The second year of the program is building up students' road safety knowledge and skills, with the aim of achieving an even higher helmet wearing rate. The UPS Foundation's generous sponsorship of helmets and the Road Safety Day events were supported by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the Department of Land Transport, Public Health Promotion, Road Accident Victims Protection Company Limited, the Royal Thai Police, and NAT Motors Sales. The UPS Foundation’s generous sponsorship of helmets and the Road Safety Day events were supported by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the Department of Land Transport, Public Health Promotion, Road Accident Victims Protection Company Limited, the Royal Thai Police, and NAT Motors Sales. Check out the photos and press release! Solvay's extracurricular activities conclude at Wat Prachum Mitr Bumrung School
Over the course of January and February, AIP Foundation organized two extracurricular road safety events at Wat Prachum Mitr Bumrung School in Rayong province in Thailand, as follow-up to Solvay's donation of 238 helmets to the school. Primary school students learned the fundamentals of road safety and helmet wearing, including how to follow traffic light signals and how to wear helmets correctly. The eldest students also practiced their English language skills, learning the English names of common road signs. Students customized their helmets, drawing designs and bringing them to life using stickers, to strengthen their sense of ownership over their helmets. Check out the photos. Extracurricular activities at Wat Chaimongkol School wrap up Helmets for Kids project on high note
The second and final extracurricular activities were conducted under the British Embassy Bangkok's sponsorship of the Helmets for Kids project at Wat Chaimongkol School in the Rong Muang sub-district of Bangkok province on January 23. Pre-school and primary students practiced basic traffic light behavior and learned about different road safety signs in Thailand. High school students practiced their knowledge of road safety signs in Thai and English and demonstrated correct helmet wearing techniques.
Road safety signs erected near primary schools urge drivers to “slow down for kids!”
AIP Foundation and Chevron put up road safety signs near 18 primary schools in Kai County, China in support of the Walk Wise project. The signs, strategically placed on dangerous corners where children walk to and from school each day, call for drivers to "Slow down for kids!" when passing through a school zone. Walk Wise, sponsored by Chevron, delivers road safety education to children in Kai County, located in the Chongqing province of China, and implements road treatments and safety modifications in the road environment near vulnerable schools. Currently in its second phase, Walk Wise will expand to reach 80,000 children by 2017. Stakeholders gather in Chongqing to assess progress of Walk Wise phase two
AIP Foundation's International Development Director Lotte Brondum traveled to Kai County, Chongqing to meet with the AIP Foundation team stationed in China and key project partners to discuss the progress of the second phase of Walk Wise. The Education Department and Traffic Police provided a report of their involvement and presented their plans for continued project engagement. In phase two, the project reach is increasing from two primary schools to 18 schools, and e-learning road safety curriculum and road treatments around the schools are introduced, in complement to the classroom-based curriculum developed in phase one.
New Update: Police train in new traffic regulations –Traffic Police officers and inspectors of motor vehicles are undergoing training and induction in the newly enacted traffic and road safety regulations and improved service delivery.
UHVI establishes "helmet safety checkpoints" to encourage safe motorcycle driving
The Uganda Helmet Vaccine Initiative (UHVI) and partners established five "helmet safety checkpoints" in Kampala throughout December, as part of the "Obulamu Bwe Buggaga – Wear a helmet!" campaign. Police were stationed at each of the checkpoints to stop motorcycle (boda boda) riders and provide them information about road laws and safe driving. In Uganda, boda boda riders are in more serious and fatal crashes than any other road user. More than 800 boda boda riders received informative pamphlets and safety instruction from the police at the booths, along with other materials to encourage them to always practice safe motorcycle driving on the roads. Over 200 reflective jackets were awarded to riders who complied with the national helmet law. The checkpoints were active from December 16-20, 2013, and 13 more will be set up in March and April 2014.
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