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WHO representative calls for new laws, more nation participation in road safety

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BERLIN — The Decade of Action for Road Safety may have started in 2011 with a successful launch, but nations around the world need to adopt legislation to promote positive road safety and reduce the incidence of trauma cases in hospitals, according to a presentation at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012 meeting.

Although trauma surgeons are usually only concerned with the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety’s fifth pillar, post-crash response, Manjul Joshipura, MD, a scientist at the World Health Organization and founder of the World Health Organization Global Alliance for the Care of the Injured, said they should also be concerned about the overall goal.

“The goal is to stabilize the growth…and then reduce the level of all fatalities in this decade,” Joshipura said. “If we work together and achieve the goal, [then] we expect that we will be able to save 5 million lives, 50 million injuries and about $3 trillion U.S. dollars.”

Chile, China, France, Honduras and New Zealand have already enacted legislation and Brazil, Cambodia and the Russian Federation have increased their enforcement of existing laws in response to the Five Pillars, but more support is needed, Joshipura said. Currently, only 15% of countries have laws that follow these pillars.

In the future, Joshipura said nations should create a national mechanism for better care of trauma and then bring that capacity internationally to improve the quality of care as well as develop evidence-based cost-effective solutions.

Reference:

• Joshipura M. The United Nations in action: A decade dedicated to reduce RTIs 2011 - 2020. Presented at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012. May 23-25. Berlin.