Bill Clinton Formally Recognizes AIP Foundation's Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative
23/09/2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, 22 September, 2010- Greig Craft, president of the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation, announced today onstage at the Clinton Global Initiative a commitment to implement road safety programs in 94 schools across 4 countries over the next 3 years. These programs will reach 357,000 students, parents, and teachers through direct interventions and 81 million people indirectly through public awareness education in Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and Uganda.
The AIP Foundation will implement these interventions acting as the lead NGO for the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, an international coalition launched in 2009 with founding partners the FIA Foundation and World Bank Global Road Safety Facility. Recently, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have joined this coalition. The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative operates under the mission "a helmet on every head" in the UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011 to 2020). Helmets have been proven to reduce the likelihood of serious brain injury by 70% and fatality by 42%.
"We are honored to have our work recognized by Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative. This recognition highlights the importance of using helmets as a vaccine against the rising epidemic of traffic fatalities," said Craft.
On September 21, Craft delivered a presentation on the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative during the Promoting Safe Roads Action Network at the Clinton Global Initiative. In addition, the FIA Foundation announced a multi-year financial commitment to the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative.
David Ward, Director General of the FIA Foundation, said:
"The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative is the core element of our ten year, US $1 million a year, CGI commitment for improving road user behavior during the Decade of Action. Ensuring motorcycle users always wear a helmet is one of the most cost effective ways to reduce death and injury. GHVI is delivering a vaccine that has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives."
AIP Foundation was pleased to receive an invitation to attend the Clinton Global Initiative, an international conference that promotes collaboration between the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and other global leaders to effectively confront the world's most pressing problems with an emphasis on tangible results. In 2000, Bill Clinton launched AIP Foundation's signature Helmets for Kids program in Vietnam. Since then, AIP Foundation has donated over 500,000 helmets to children in developing countries worldwide.
Traffic fatalities are on par with the death tolls from the world's major diseases, including malaria and tuberculosis, though they receive a fraction of the attention. The WHO predicts that traffic fatalities will rise from the current rate of 1.2 million per year to 2 million per year by 2020. Children account for 40% of traffic fatalities and developing countries bear 96% of the global burden of child deaths.
For the Editor:
For media inquiries please contact:
Megan Bailey
Communications and Outreach Coordinator
04-3771-0700
megan.bailey@aipf-vietnam.org
About AIP Foundation
The Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) is a U.S. registered 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that uses public-private partnerships, education, and school-based helmet programs to reduce the pervasive and devastating rate of traffic injuries and fatalities in developing countries. Traffic fatalities and serious brain injury are preventable and this tragic, yet rising trend is reversible. The organization's efforts focus on collaborating with the private sector and the government to enact sustainable social and legislative change, disseminating hard-hitting public awareness education, and creating a young generation of safe and smart road users.
Founded in 1999 in Vietnam, AIP Foundation has offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Bangkok, Thailand. In 2001, AIP Foundation built its non-profit helmet assembly plant, V-SPEC, which manufactures Protec brand tropical helmets. These helmets offer an environmentally appropriate, safe and affordable option for motorbike and bicycle users.
In 2009, AIP Foundation, in collaboration with the FIA Foundation and the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, launched the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, an international coalition with the objective of "putting a helmet on every head in the 'Decade of Action for Road Safety'. The Initiative brings AIP Foundation proven programs to developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and will work to reduce by 50 percent the projected number of road traffic crash deaths and injury by 2020.
For more information about the AIP Foundation, please visit www.asiainjury.org or www.helmetvaccine.org.
About FIA Foundation
The FIA Foundation is an independent UK registered charity that manages and supports an international agenda devoted to promoting road safety, environmental protection, and sustainable mobility, as well as funding specialist motor sport safety research. Since 2007, FIA Foundation has actively supported AIP Foundation in Vietnam and organized the support of Desmond Tutu and Michelle Yeoh to advocate for increased helmet use.
Greig Craft and Road Safety Goodwill Ambassador Michelle Yeoh at the Clinton Global Initiative, 2010
Bill Clinton and Greig Craft at the launch of AIP Foundation's Helmets for Kids program in 2000
