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Welcome to this important road safety stocktake meeting. It has only been two months since WHO and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation launched Viet Nam Project 2000 Road Safety Partnership. It brought together development partners, academia, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders, with ‘start up’ funding generously provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the FIA Foundation.
But I am an impatient optimist. When it comes to the safety of children and young people, every day counts. Every day, five children and young people, on average, lose their lives on Viet Nam’s roads every single day. Every year, that’s 2000 children and young people.
And that is why we are here: to end this tragedy, by working towards reducing the number of children and young people who die on Viet Nam’s roads every year from 2000, to zero. Zero preventable deaths. Zero families shattered by road crashes. Zero children killed on the way to school.
So, I am delighted that this Partnership has already been able to take strong action on two priority issues: helmets and child restraint systems. We will hear more about this soon.
We are here today to maintain the momentum that brought us together to support the Government’s work in this area, and gave this Partnership such a strong start.
In particular, we welcome your inputs today into the strategic road map that will set out the steps we’ll take together to achieve a 50% reduction in young road deaths by 2030.
You can of course continue to count on support from WHO, as the UN’s lead agency on road safety, and our founding partner, the AIP Foundation.
In closing, let me thank you in advance for joining with us in this work to protect the lives of Viet Nam’s youngest.
I look forward to our discussions today, and the work we will take forward together for a healthier, safer Viet Nam.
Xin Cam On!