To coincide with the High-level Meeting, the Lancet has published a series of three papers on Road safety: More than reducing injuries. The series looks at the “mismatch between the global dialogue on road traffic injuries and action in tackling them.” It offers evidence-based recommendations and provides useful data for NGO advocates.
The political and social contexts of global road safety: challenges for the next decade, by Adnan Hyder, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University; Connie Hoe, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University; Martha Hijar, National Institute of Public health of Mexico, Cuernavaca; and Margie Peden, George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London. This paper considers how road safety “has evolved as a global health issue over the last two decades. It looks at the “political and economic dynamics that led to this change; specifically, the key stakeholders, influences, networks, issue framing, actor power, and synergistic interactions”;
Saving lives through road safety risk factor interventions: global and national estimates, by Andres I Vecino-Ortiz, Madhuram Nagarajan, Sarah Elaraby, and Deivis Nicolas Guzman-Tordecilla, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Nino Paichadze and Adnan Hyder, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. The paper is a “systematic review of all available evidence-based, preventive interventions for mortality reduction” targeting speeding, drink driving, and helmet, seatbelt, and child restraint usage. It presents country-specific estimates on the number of lives that would be saved implementing these interventions—a particularly useful tool for NGOs advocating in their countries. The results suggest that implementation of these interventions could prevent between 25% and 40% of all fatal road injuries worldwide.
Improvement in trauma care for road traffic injuries: an assessment of the effect on mortality in low-income and middle-income countries by Junaid A Razzak, Weill Cornell Medicine; Junaid Bhatti, Manulife Canada; Kate Wright, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University; Mulinda Nyirenda, College of Medicine, University of Malawi; Muhammad Ramzan Tahir, Apotex; and Adnan Hyder, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. The third paper reviews evidence on “effective interventions for victims of RTIs; and secondly, to estimate the potential number of lives saved by effective trauma care systems and clinical interventions in low- and middle-income countries.”
