WHO commends Brunei for traffic death reduction

An aerial view of the roundabout in Kiulap. - Borneo Bulletin

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Sultanate is among the 10 countries to have reduced road traffic deaths by over 50 per cent, according to World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday (May27).

“We’re working to make the world’s roads safer. Over the past decade, 45 countries have reduced road traffic deaths by at least 30 per cent.

“And 10 have achieved a reduction of 50 per cent or more: Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela,” Tedros said at the 77th World Health Assembly themed ‘All for Health, Health for All’ attended by world leaders.

Meanwhile, 108 countries reported a drop in road traffic-related deaths between 2010 and 2021 according to the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023.

Thirty-five more countries made notable progress, reducing deaths by 30 per cent to 50 per cent.

It also showed that since 2010, road traffic deaths have fallen by five per cent to 1.19 million annually, road crashes remain a persistent global health crisis, with pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users facing an acute and rising risk of death.

“Based on 2019 data on the age distribution of all-cause mortality, road traffic injury remains the leading cause of death for children and young people aged five to 29 and is the 12th leading cause of death when all ages are considered,” the report said.

“The tragic tally of road crash deaths is heading in the right direction, downwards, but nowhere near fast enough,” said the WHO director-general. – The Borneo Bulletin/ANN