February 20, 2020
19-20 February, 2020 – Stockholm, Sweden
Leaders in road safety, youth advocacy, health promotion, and transport joined together at the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety for a panel discussion on integrating road safety into the health agenda for children and young people worldwide. Out of overall development assistance for health, only 2.2% are spent on adolescents, and of that amount, only 0.3% targets road injury.
Panelists included Mr. Greig Craft, President of AIP Foundation, Mr. Basanta Kumar Nembang from the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure at Transport in Nepal, Ms. Olivia Nalwadda from YOURS – Youth for Road Safety in Uganda, and Mr. Stefan Swartling Peterson from the Health Division of UNICEF. Mr. Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of the FIA Foundation moderated the discussion and Ms. Margie Peden, Head of the Global Injury Programme at the George Institute for Global Health, provided introductory remarks.
The panelists discussed proven solutions for promoting the road safety of children and adolescents, demonstrating the links between road safety and other health and development challenges for children and adolescents. Participants also discussed the importance of building bridges between the road safety sector with the community of adolescent health practitioners and experts, before identifying various key priorities for the next decade.
Panel participants also had the opportunity to share their visions for creating greater opportunities for engaging young people to take ownership of road safety issues and agendas and advocate for solutions. Speakers also shared their perspective on the intersection of road safety issues with many other priority areas for youth health and well-being, including air quality, mental health, obesity, prevention of violence, education, and climate change.