By Dearest reader,
I’m pleased to announce the creation of the Road Safety Toolkit Learning App, a result of the partnership between AB InBev and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The learning app, launched on November 12th, 2020, is based on the existing toolkit created by AB InBev and UNITAR, and provides governments around the world with a proven methodology to address traffic crashes in their cities.
As some of you may know, road traffic injuries claim more than 1.35 million lives each year. Currently, they are the leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29. The resulting emotional and financial instability can be catastrophic to families and places a burden on national healthcare systems and economies in general, costing 3% of GDP globally. This problem is especially acute in the developing world, with 90% of the world’s fatalities occurring on the roads of low- and middle-income countries, even though they only account for approximately 54% of the world’s vehicles.
These road traffic–related deaths and injuries have unparalleled health and socioeconomic implications on society, particularly in areas with such high rates of death and injury. Given this, United Nations member states have set the goal of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by 50 percent by the year 2020 as part of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.
In February of 2018, we at AB InBev signed a partnership with UNITAR to build upon our joint commitment to improve road safety and further help the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS). The pillars of this unique partnership, which has global ambitions, are generating public awareness, building capacity, and developing data-driven solutions to save lives.
At the Road Safety Toolkit Learning App virtual launch conference, we gathered to better understand the functionality of the toolkit and uncover the evidence-based methodology behind it. The event also sought to further explain the plethora of road safety initiatives that AB InBev and UNITAR have developed over the past years. The toolkit and its application are built on the key findings and results from previous successful initiatives in countries such as Brazil, South Africa, China, India, Mexico and the United States.
We hope that this Learning App format will make the Toolkit more widely available to governments and stakeholders willing to improve road safety in their communities. It is a collection of information, resources and evidence-based recommendations that together aim to help guide the development of a plan and/or mobilize efforts to improve road safety and save lives. It has been designed to be an interactive e-learning tool that can be used by government officials, road engineers, planners and policy makers from the public and private sector. The learning app can be downloaded from the Play Store for Android users, and in the App store for iPhone users.
Through the implementation and roll-out of the Toolkit and app, UNITAR and AB InBev both reinforce their commitment and solidarity to achieving the United Nations SDG 17, that seeks to strengthen global partnerships between the public and private sector. Providing governments with a set of tools developed by stakeholders in the private sector, is a milestone achievement we hope other organizations can follow to address other pressing global issues.
We firmly believe that these initiatives, when backed by reliable data collection and cutting-edge technologies from private-sector companies, will be beneficial in laying the foundation for effective, localized road safety solutions where we implement our programs. AB InBev remains strongly committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development to cut road traffic crashes in half by 2030.
I invite you all to download the app on your mobile devices today and put it to use in your communities. We’re open and always available to help you implement solutions on your roads. If any doubts arise, please contact us!
All my best,
Cata
What do you think?