Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Peter Pinda met with the president of the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation in Hanoi during his official visit to Vietnam last week to discuss the merits of a new helmet initiative being planned between Vietnam and Tanzania.

While the Tanzanian mission to Vietnam focused primarily on agriculture exchange, Pinda talked about importing the Vietnam Road Safety Model to Tanzania beginning in September.

The establishment of a helmet plant in Tanzania would be based on the nonprofit Vietnam model created in 2000.

Pinda said he was interested in hiring physically disabled workers for the factory, which is done in Vietnam .

Pinda said he admired the fact that all profits were used completely for road safety improvement and put back into the community.

AIP has been developing road safety interventions in Vietnam for 10 years, especially in the area of motorcycle helmet use.

Its lightweight tropical helmets have helped set new standards in motorbike helmet usage./.