Gia Lai reviews “Helmet for children” project

Gia Lai (VNA) - A workshop to review the effectiveness of the project “Helmet for children” in the academic year 2018-2019 was held in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai on December 19.

Joint held by the provincial Traffic Safety Committee and Department of Education and Training, and the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation, the event aims to assess active impacts of the project and seek more measures to effectively implement legal regulations related wearing helmet for children in Gia Lai, thus raising public awareness of the work.

Addressing the event, Natalie Alya Draisin from the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society said the latest global status report on road safety of the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that the mortality rate of traffic accidents is increasing, especially in low-income countries.

Southeast Asia and Africa are the worst affected regions, she said, stressing that it is necessary to build a global movement to prevent the situation.

Vietnam is one of countries that have made impressive achievements in increasing the rate of children wearing helmets, from only 5 percent in 2007 to 53 percent in ten years later, she said.

Implemented from April 2018 to June 2019 in 31 primary schools in Gia Lai, central Quang Nam province and the northern provinces of Yen Bai and Thai Nguyen, the project has provided nearly 5,200 helmets for students from ethnic minority groups.

Along with practical activities such as training courses and seminars, the project has helped raise awareness of pupils and teachers of the necessity to wear standard helmets.

The project has benefited 12 primary schools in Gia Lai, where the rate of students wearing helmets was only 38 percent before the project was implemented. The rate climbs to 95 percent at present.


In Vietnam, the numbers of traffic accidents, deaths and injured people remain high through they have declined in recent years. Nearly 6,600 people were killed and 11,000 others got injured by traffic accidents from January to October this year, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.

Although the adherence to the helmet wearing rule has been improved among adults, the rate among children is still low.-VNA