Child and Adolescent Road Safety
In East Asia and Pacific
Highlights
Road injuries is one of the leading causes of child and adolescent death in the East Asia and the Pacific countries. Because of their stage of cognitive development, physical size, and the vulnerabilities of their smaller and growing bodies, children are particularly vulnerable to being injured. This report is intended to provide relevant information about the burden, risk factors and interventions to address road traffic injuries among children and adolescents in the region. The target audience includes UNICEF staff in country and regional offices, country-level road safety and public health practitioners, policy makers, advocates and academics. Road traffic injuries place enormous barriers for impacted young people (and often their family, due to caring responsibilities and other emotional costs) on opportunities for education, employment, housing and social engagement. Adolescents have often been overlooked in health planning, however, prioritizing adolescent road safety recognize the importance of enabling young people to optimally meet the future challenges of employment, parenthood, and financial independence. The Safe Systems framework is applied to present a summary of evidence based strategies assessed for their effectiveness in reducing road trauma to children and young people.
