World Health Day 2004 'Road Safety Is No Accident'

7 April 2004

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07 Apr 2004

In 2002, about 1.18 million people were killed and about 20 to 50 million injured worldwide due to road traffic accidents. Road traffic injuries resulted in 211 deaths in Singapore in the year 2003, of which 52.1% of these were among those aged 20 to 44 years old. Road traffic injuries was ranked number nine on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) list of leading contributors to the global burden of disease in the year 1990. If the current global trend for road traffic injuries continues, WHO estimates that it will be ranked as number three by the year 2020.

For the first time in its history WHO has adopted the theme of Road Safety for its international World Health Day (WHD) this year on 7 April 2004. The WHO hosts the WHD annually to address a critical global public health issue. The theme for this year's WHD is "Road Safety is No Accident". It aims to highlight worldwide road safety and prevention efforts.

In commemoration of WHD 2004, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health, with the support of the Health Promotion Board, the Land Transport Authority, the National Safety Council of Singapore and the Traffic Police will be holding a series of events to drive home the message that road safety requires the deliberate and collaborated efforts of various government agencies, its partners and road users.

As part of its efforts to address the growing public health problem of road safety, the Organising Committee has lined up the following activities for this year's WHD. The objective of these events is to raise awareness of WHD 2004 and promote road traffic safety for people of all ages:

World Health Day 2004 Seminar on the issue of road safety as a public health problem and prevention strategies for road traffic injuries. To be held on 20 Apr 2004 at Raffles City Convention Centre.
World Health Day 2004 Exhibition from 24 to 25 Apr 2004 at Ngee Ann City, Basement 2.

For more information on the World Health Day 2004, you can also refer to the WHO website.