IIRU Welcomes Results of the Moscow Ministerial Conference on Global Road Safety

The Ministerial summit in Moscow was a hugely significant turning point for global road safety. The Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (IIRU) is greatly encouraged by the meeting and key developments for global road safety.

The Moscow Declaration approved by the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety endorses a UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, and establishes the basis for a global governmental framework for road safety, with the generous commitment of the Sultanate of Oman to host a second Ministerial in five years time. "This is an unprecedented acknowledgement by the international community of the seriousness of the lives lost on global roads", said Dr. Hyder, IIRU's director.

The Statement of a Shared Approach to Managing Road Safety from the World Bank and the six leading multilateral development banks (the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank) is a powerful and unequivocal pledge to make road safety a priority in the banks operations. "This represents the kind of leadership that can work towards major investments" said Dr. Puvanachandra, lead IIRU faculty for training.

Dr. Tran, lead IIRU faculty for policy commented, "working together the global community is close to achieving a breakthrough". "Now governments, UN agencies, NGOs and all actors in the road safety community must take forward the momentum gained", said Dr. Chandran, lead IIRU faculty on child injuries. We must also redouble our efforts to secure the political and financial support necessary to build national road safety capacity and plans, and to implement the proven life-saving road safety interventions that could save millions of lives in the years ahead.