Statement by Dr Vadim Kadyrbaev, vice-president of the Kazakhstan Red Crescent, represented the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) at the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, held in Moscow on 19 and 20 November.
He spoke as a participant in a high-level panel which examined both the role of the health sector in contributing to better road safety, and what actions the health sector could take during a ‘Decade of action’.
Dr. Kadyrbaev first commented on one of the obvious roles of the health sector: providing care to the victims.
The contribution of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies to emergency trauma care is key, mainly through first aid. Our National Societies are recognized globally as leaders in teaching and providing first aid and most of them have integrated road safety in their first aid programmes.
Although first aid is not a replacement for the intervention of emergency services, it is a vital, rapid, initial step in the rescue chain that can significantly decrease the risk of death or severe injury following a road crash.
Our Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies not only provide first aid services at the scene of a road crash, they also play a major role in training the general public in first aid, to ensure that bystanders can intervene immediately in those first few vital minutes after a road crash, significantly increasing victims’ chances of survival.
A human heart ceases to beat within four minutes after breathing stops; permanent brain damage can occur within four to six minutes after breathing stops. In Europe for example, over 50% of deaths from road crashes occur in the first few minutes after a crash, that’s why first aid is essential and can truly make a difference.
First aid is also a major prevention tool, because it increases awareness of hazards that cause road crashes on the road, and can therefore serve to promote good behaviour for all road users – it’s what we call a ‘risk reduction’ strategy.
We believe governments must have a more dynamic approach and should promote the idea of compulsory first aid education for professional and young drivers, for traffic police and for children at school. This should also include a refresher course system - every five years for example.
In countries around the world, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are ready to play an even greater role in promoting first aid. Advocacy is of course very important.
It is clear that since the World Disasters Report that the IFRC issued in 1999, which described the global impact of road traffic crashes, we have witnessed a truly global recognition of the problem.
In addition, we should mention the great political impact of the World report on traffic injury prevention published by the World Health Organization and the World bank in 2004, the creation of the UN road safety collaboration, of which IFRC is a member, the adoption of four UN resolutions on road safety, as well as this global conference in Moscow.
These publications and these events are proof that most of the decision makers on the planet are aware of the problem. Certainly none of them can deny the seriousness of the situation. In that sense the last decade has been used to prepare both minds and nations to effectively address the road safety issue.
It is now clearly, urgently, time for action.
This is what we advocate in a new report titled Call for Action.
This is the main challenge of this conference: more action and more sustainable funding for the next decade to reverse the deadly and increasing toll of road crashes and their tragic human, social and economic consequences.
I also emphasize the fact that we, as leaders in the health and social sectors, must set a good example in our own countries by persuading our staff and our partners to be model road users.
That’s why we have created a Personal road safety commitment card for our members worldwide that I invite you to use and adapt to your context.”
