Bloomberg Philanthropies commits USD 240 mn to prevent road deaths

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Bloomberg Philanthropies on Tuesday announced a doubling of its support for global road safety, committing another $240 million from 2020-2025 to save 600,000 more lives and prevent up to 22 million injuries in low and middle-income countries around the world.

The six-year reinvestment, will see three cities from India as part of the 30 cities that will receive support under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) to effectively implement best-practice road safety activities, including running hard-hitting media campaigns to raise road user understanding of risk factors, training police in best practice enforcement, and redesigning high-crash, high-fatality corridors and intersections.

In India, Delhi, Mumbai & Bengaluru will be participating in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety with support from the governments of Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka respectively.

Road traffic injuries are the 8th leading cause of death globally and the number one killer of people ages 5-29. More than 1.35 million people die and up to 50 million are seriously injured in road traffic crashes each year.

Additionally, the economic losses are staggering - a recent report released by the World Bank found that reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by half could add 7-22% to GDP per capita in 5 selected low- and middle-income countries over the next 24 years.

"As Transport and Health Ministers from around the world gather in Sweden this week for the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, we should keep in mind that these deaths and injuries are completely preventable. After more than a decade of working with our international and in-country partners, we know which policies and interventions are saving lives," said Kelly Henning, Director of Public Health at Bloomberg Philanthropies. "By increasing our commitment, we can double our impact by leveraging the many lessons we've learned and adopting new approaches that we believe will accelerate progress."

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