Safety Delivered, a program implemented by AIP Foundation and supported by The UPS Foundation launched a series of innovative multimedia campaigns, including billboard installations, photo contests, and public service announcements, across primary schools and hospitals in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Thai Nguyen, Vietnam to raise awareness of the importance of helmet use. 

The photo contests occurred at 18 target schools throughout the month of June and encouraged students to develop ideas for photos among their classmates, as well as the volunteers with their family members, giving students the opportunity to think critically about road safety in a collaborative way. 

“We are glad that Safety Delivered is engaging students in conversations about road safety in such a creative manner. It’s never too early to engage children on safe road habits, and through awareness- raising activities such as these, we hope to promote sustainable, safer road habits at schools in the communities where we operate,” said Russell Reed, Managing Director, UPS Thailand and Vietnam.

With the support and guidance of Ho Chi Minh City and Thai Nguyen Traffic Safety Committee and Departments of Education and Training, Safety Delivered will also install 573 billboards at 360 primary school gates in Ho Chi Minh City and at 220 schools in Thai Nguyen, reminding parents that both they and their children must wear a helmet when riding to school, and will reiterate the dangers of non helmet-use whenever riding a motorcycle or bicycle at all times. 

“We have seen that behavior change begins with families, so we are very glad to support the billboard installations to remind parents and the community of their role as crucial role models to help their children practice safer road behaviors,” said Mr. Tan Hoang Long, Chief Secretariat of the Thai Nguyen Province Traffic Safety Committee. 

The third component of the multimedia campaigns involves the airing of AIP Foundation’s public service announcement, “Love your child, provide a helmet,” a moving video of a child on a motorcycle with her parents while not wearing a helmet. The public service announcement will continue to be aired at Cho Ray and Nhi Dong II national hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Duc national hospital in Hanoi, and a provincial hospital in Thai Nguyen. At Cho Ray and Nhi Dong II national hospitals, the public service announcement will be aired over 900 times per day from April to November 2020, reaching patients, their relatives, and hospital staff. 

At target schools in Ho Chi Minh City, the pre-observation helmet-wearing rate of students was just 23%. Following intervention, the rate increased to 77%. In Thai Nguyen, the pre-intervention helmet-wearing rate was 27% and increased to 80% post-intervention. Through Safety Delivered, 10,942 total helmets will be distributed across Vietnam during the 2019 – 2020 school year to students, teachers, parents, victims of road crashes, and their families.

Read more about the event in the Press Release here.