YEN BAI, THAI NGUYEN, AND TUYEN QUANG PROVINCE, Vietnam — November 13, 2020

AIP Foundation, in collaboration with the National Traffic Safety Committee and the Ministry of Education and Training, expanded the Helmets for Kids (HFK) program, supported by Johnson & Johnson, delivering life-saving interventions to rural communities in Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang provinces, Vietnam. Each of these provinces are home to a significant number of ethnic minorities. The life-saving interventions included helmet distribution and education activities focusing on safe helmet use.  The very first event of the program expansion was hosted today in Yen Bai Province.

“The reality is that every day a child leaves their home to go to school, without proper safety equipment like a helmet, they’re at risk on the road. We need to take an urgent, proactive role in empowering communities with proper road safety knowledge and resources on helmet use, whether it’s on a motorbike or bicycle, so that wearing a helmet becomes instinctive and natural rather than a novelty. Something as simple as wearing a helmet can be the difference in that child coming back home to their family happy and healthy,” Mr. Jun Hong Park, Managing Director of Johnson & Johnson Vietnam shared.

Ethnic minorities and rural populations face a range of challenges in accessing mainstream services and resources, making it difficult to break the cycle of poverty. The HFK program aims to mitigate the economic and social disparity by reducing brain injuries related to road crashes in school zones and the surrounding communities through increased ratio of quality helmet use among children. The HFK program expansion commenced with a helmet handover ceremony at each project school and will be accompanied by an “edutainment” event with a series of interactive games focusing on proper helmet use.  Across the 16 schools, 7,375 students, 451 teachers and staff, local authorities and community members will participate in the edutainment activities.