Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit Joins Experts at Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety Partners Meeting

On October 10-12, 2018, Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit team members participated in a series of meetings at the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) Partners Meeting, held at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York City.

The gathering invited partners of the BIGRS consortium to connect and hear from one another on project updates and research and intervention highlights from around the world. Partners—including Vital Strategies, Global Road Safety Partnership, World Bank, and World Health Organization—joined together with JH-IIRU for the three-day event.

Michal Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies offered welcoming remarks on Wednesday, October 10, before introductions from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Kelly Henning and Kelly Larson and brief highlights from local city officials who shared success stories as results of the consortium work.

JH-IIRU Director Dr. Abdul Bachani then took the podium to provide a status report on seven rounds of observational studies that he and his team led across the 10 BIGRS cities: Fortaleza and Sao Paulo, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; Bandung, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Addis Ababa, Ethopia; Accra, Ghana; Mumbai, India; and Shanghai, China.

“The work conducted by our team during this second phase of the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety program has generated such positive results across a number of risk factors,” said Dr. Bachani. “To present our work alongside partners from the consortium who are on the ground implementing these interventions, it’s a real opportunity for continued in the field of road safety.”

Later in the week, Dr. Bachani joined Global Road Safety Partnership program manager Judy Fleiter for a presentation on the Global Road Safety Leadership Course. Through five offerings, the course has certified more than 300 participants from 50 different countries. It was also announced during the presentation that the next regional offering will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the spring of 2019.