Saving children’s lives: The Botnar Child Road Safety Challenge
PEDEN MARGARET., ATTWOOD P., Elseroad D., Lagouit E., Judy F.
Addressing the epidemic of children killed and injured on the world’s roads is a priority for the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) – a public-private membership-based global road safety organisation – hosted by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, based in Geneva, Switzerland. GRSP recently partnered with the Fondation Botnar – a Swiss-based charitable foundation established in 2003 which focuses on child health and well-being around the world – to implement practical, innovative and evidence-based interventions in medium-sized cities in six countries (India, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Tunisia and Vietnam) through the Botnar Child Road Safety Challenge (“The Challenge”). This multimillion Swiss Franc project was launched by GRSP in August 2017 and aims to reduce child injuries and deaths in the six countries over 5 years using innovative and evidence-based interventions. The Challenge is timely in seeking to build on the growing global recognition of population shifts to urban areas and the impact of urbanization on public health. The Challenge also sees cities – particularly secondary cities – as great potential agents of change and incubators for innovation. It recognises the importance of multi-sector collaboration and strongly encourages public, private, and civil society sectors to work together to improve child road safety. Monitoring & evaluation is being undertaken by The George Institute, Oxford University.