A national ‘helmet vaccine’ coalition has been launched in Cambodia with support from the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, co-funded by the FIA Foundation.
The Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia was launched with a ceremony in Phnom Penh by the AIP Foundation in co-ordination with the Ministry of Interior, the National Road Safety Committee and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The coalition is co-funded by the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative (GHVI), ANZ Royal Bank (Cambodia) Ltd. and Total Cambodge, with the aim of implementing public awareness campaigns and school-based programs to reduce traumatic brain injury and fatalities from road traffic crashes. The Cambodian Minister of Education, Im Sithy, and the Governor of Phnom Penh, Kep Chuk Tema, spoke at the launch event, which saw crash helmets distributed to 2000 children and a parade through the city by traffic police and tuk tuk motorcycle taxis carrying campaign flags and advertisements.
Education Minister Im Sithy said: “Cambodia faces one of the highest fatality rates of road traffic crashes in the Southeast Asian region and motorization rates are rising every year. We strongly support the Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia, and its mission to increase helmet use when on a motorbike. Road traffic crashes are a major cause of death and injury in Cambodia, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We will support the Coalition to change this.”
Cambodia has suffered a 150% growth in road crashes over recent years, is now facing one of the biggest projected increases in road deaths and serious injuries in Asia. Motorcycles account for 77% of total crashes in Cambodia, and 44% of victims suffer severe head injuries. Road traffic crashes cost Cambodia an average of $116 million (USD) per annum, 3% of its GDP and over 25% of the net official development assistance the country receives each year, according to the Asian Development Bank.
To combat this epidemic, the first initiative of the Helmet Vaccine Coalition Cambodia is a ‘One Helmet, One Life’, public awareness campaign, including a television drama called “Regrets” about the tragic consequences felt by a family living in Phnom Penh after a traffic accident. It also includes advertisements at Total’s 32 service stations nationwide and ANZ Royal Bank’s 126 ATM machines throughout the country; as well as advertisement panels on the back of Tuk-Tuks (3-wheeler motorcycle taxi) in Phnom Penh. “Regrets” will air from 12 May on TV3, every Wednesday from 7.30 – 8.30pm, and every Friday from 10.30 – 11.30pm. The soap opera will feature filmed introductory endorsements by the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Samdech Hun Sen and the Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek.
Saul Billingsley, FIA Foundation Deputy Director, spoke at the coalition launch and joined the Education Minister, Governor of Phnom Penh and Greig Craft, CEO of GHVI, in handing out helmets to children. He said: “This vital helmet campaign is exactly the kind of sustainable programme that is needed in many countries during the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. This Cambodian Helmet Vaccine Initiative is a pioneering example that many other governments, grappling with their own epidemics of motorcycle crashes and head injuries, could themselves encourage and adopt. The FIA Foundation, through our support for the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, is proud to support this campaign in Cambodia.”
Click here to view the trailer for TV drama "Regrets" >
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Click here to listen to the BBC World Service interview with Mirjam Sidik, Executive Director of the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation >