India among top 3 countries with highest road deaths in Southeast Asia: WHO

India Indonesia and Myanmar are the top 3 countries with the highest road deaths in SouthEast Asia according to a World Health Organisation WHO report on road safety launched on Monday The report lsquoWHO SouthEast Asia Regional Status Report on Road Safety Towards Safer and Sustainable Mobilityrsquo was launched at the 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Safety 2024 being held in the national capitalThe report outlines road traffic injury patterns in SE Asian countries and highlights best practices and countryspecific interventions It showed that India had the highest reported road traffic deaths 153972 in the year 2021 followed by Indonesia 25266 and Myanmar 5325India also reported the highest road traffic injuries 384448 in the year 2021 followed by Indonesia 128466 road injuries and Nepal 94665 ldquoVulnerable road users including pedestrians bicyclists and two or threewheelers constitute 66 per cent of all reported road traffic deaths in our Region said Saima Wazed regional director WHO SouthEast Asia in her keynote addressOur roads and road networks need to be designed prioritising those most at risk children and adolescents people with disabilities pedestrians and other vulnerable groups Wazed saidThe report revealed that the WHO SE Asia Region accounted for 330223 of the 119 million estimated global road traffic deaths in 2021 representing 28 per cent of the global burden India was also among the top three countries with the highest road traffic deaths per 100000 population the report saidThailand 259 deaths per 100000 population Sri Lanka 117 deaths per 100000 population and India 116 deaths per 100000 population reported more than 10 road traffic deaths per 100000 persons in the year 2021Maldives reported the lowest road traffic death rate 09 per 100000 population in the year 2021 The UN health agency called on countries in the region to accelerate measures to reduce road traffic deaths a leading cause of mortality among young people aged 1529 While the region saw a 2 per cent decrease in road fatalities in 2021 contributing to a global 5 per cent reduction further efforts are needed to meet global targets the report saidRoad safety is one of the major concerns and India has committed to reducing road injuries by 50 per cent halving them by 2030 said Dr Jagnoor Jagnoor Head Injury Programme at The George Institute for Global Health at the eventWhile more is being done towards having seat belts and considering star rating and features within the automobile industry our vulnerable road users are basically the pedestrians and bicyclists and far more needs to be done for themrdquo She also pointed out the need to consider what can be done for prevention and also to focus on what happens postcrash the rehabilitation services in the countryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever