Hyder to Lead JHSPH Effort on Michael Bloomberg’s $125 million Global Road Safety Program

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s International Injury Research Unit (IIRU) and Center for Injury Research and Policy today announced that Adnan A. Hyder, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of International Health and director of the IIRU, will lead the School’s effort on Michael Bloomberg’s $125 million Global Road Safety Program. The IIRU will join forces with five partner organizations, including the World Health Organization, to implement and coordinate activities with local governmental and non-governmental organizations in 10 countries to avert injuries and fatalities caused by road traffic crashes.

“This is an excellent opportunity and a superb group of partners to develop and implement strategies for reducing the extraordinary number of preventable traffic-related injuries and fatalities worldwide,” Hyder said.

The new gift is the largest single donation for international road safety to date. All the resources for the five-year program are dedicated outside the United States and will be focused on 10 low- and middle-income countries that have a high burden of road traffic injuries and fatalities, representing almost half (48 percent) of traffic deaths globally. Robert E. Black, MD, MPH, professor and chair of the Bloomberg School’s Department of International Health, welcomes the opportunity for his Department to advance the research on such a burgeoning public health problem. “Dr. Hyder and his team have already made great contributions to this field with very limited resources,” said Black. “The Bloomberg Global Road Safety Program is exactly what’s needed to energize the public health community about a problem that unduly affects developing countries.”

Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Bloomberg School, said he appreciated the significance of Mayor Bloomberg’s investment: “The Bloomberg Global Road Safety Program highlights the toll of over a million preventable global deaths from road traffic injuries, and signifies outstanding leadership in global health philanthropy that has maximum impact.” Andrea Gielen, ScD, ScM, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Bloomberg School, where Hyder is also a core faculty member, added, “We are delighted at this significant investment in global road safety and believe that the entire field of injury prevention and control will benefit from this program.”

Hyder will lead a team from IIRU that will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the activities of the Bloomberg Global Road Safety Program, focusing on health, economic and social measures in the 10 priority countries. They will also develop and conduct a training program in road traffic injury prevention for public health professionals in these countries. The five other partner organizations are the World Health Organization, EMBARQ (World Resources Institute), the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, Global Road Safety Partnership and the Association for Safe International Road Travel.