Dr Angela Pratt, WHO Representative in Việt Nam and Greig Craft, President and Founder of AIP Foundation, sign an MoU to implement the Việt Nam Project 2000. — Photo: WHO Viet Nam

HÀ NỘI — WHO and AIP Foundation have launched the Việt Nam Project 2000, a national partnership to end preventable child road deaths with a mission to save 2,000 young lives every year.

The Việt Nam Project 2000 aims to improve road safety through coordinated action, evidence-based solutions and the collective will of government agencies, NGOs, international partners, the private sector and community leaders.

Overall, the partnership plans to make measurable progress towards reducing the number of children and young people killed on Việt Nam’s roads from 2000 each year to zero.

Dr Angela Pratt, WHO Representative in Việt Nam said: “No child should lose their life on the way to school. In other words, every child – and every person – should be safe while going about their daily lives on the roads.

"As a mother of two young daughters, it breaks my heart to know that five families in Việt Nam lose a child or young person in a road crash every day. So, the Việt Nam Project 2000 is about more than statistics; it’s about saving futures, supporting families and creating safe, thriving communities.”

Moving forward, WHO and AIP Foundation, as partnership conveners, will invite proposed partners from the Government, international organisations and civil society to join the partnership. The official launch of the partnership is expected later this year.

A steering committee, governed by WHO Việt Nam and AIP Foundation, will provide overall strategic direction for the partnership, while thematic working groups will lead actions on priority areas, such as helmet use, child restraints and safe school zones. 

The partnership aims to ensure that all children are wearing certified​/quality​ safety helmets.— Photo: WHO Viet Nam

The partnership will focus on three fields, including ensuring all children are wearing certified​/quality​ safety helmets; supporting new laws​ based on ​adopted technical standards​​ to ensure all children in vehicles are safely and properly secured in appropriate child seats; and working towards ensuring safe driving​​​, with supportive​​/safe ​​​infrastructure, around schools, especially at ‘drop off’ and ‘pick up’ times. 

It will bring together the government, civil society, private sector and international organisations for stronger partnerships, synergies and coordination aimed at reducing road traffic deaths, particularly among children and young people.

The project seeks to build on progress already made in Việt Nam and to catalyse further progress towards the targets of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action 2021–2030, in the spirit of multi-sectoral partnership highlighted at the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, which took place in Marrakech, Morocco, in February.

Every day, five children in Việt Nam lose their lives due to road traffic crashes, amounting to approximately 2000 preventable deaths each year. These losses represent not only profound tragedies for families but also a significant burden on the country’s health system, economy and society. These tragedies are not inevitable; they are preventable. — VNS