New Publication Explores Cost Effective Strategies to Reduce Road Traffic Injuries

Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) director, Adnan Hyder, and colleagues from the World Health Organization, including health economist Dan Chisholm and coordinator of unintentional injuries, Margie Peden, recently published an article in the prestigious British Medical Journal, entitled "Cost Effectiveness of Strategies to Combat Road Traffic Injuries in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia: Mathematical Modelling Study." In it, the research team set out to identify and estimate population level costs of five intervention strategies for reducing road traffic injuries. 

Although there is wide variation across the globe in the way that roads are used and injuries are caused, the study attempted to understand the underlying patterns of road use and injury burden in order to estimate the potential impact of different road safety measures on the health of associated populations.

Dr. Hyder and his colleagues concluded that their findings, which maintain that a combination of strategies (e.g. the joint enforcement of speed limits, drink-driving laws and helmet use) are expected to be the most cost effective, can provide a useful analytical baseline against which more country-specific assessments can be made. This analysis can provide an important basis for decision making and resource allocation in global road safety.

Read the complete article here.

For more information on JH-IIRU's work in road safety, such as the Road Safety in 10 Countries project (RS-10), contact us, or visit http://www.jhsph.edu/iiru/rs10.html.