Give a Vietnamese child a helmet; save a life

Last week, leaders from across the world gathered in New York City for the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative to confront the world's most pressing issues. There were big names from the private sector, government, non-governmental organizations, and more: Mayor Bloomberg, Katie Couric of CBS News, Mary J. Blige, presidents and CEOs, and of course, former President Bill Clinton. Among all these illustrious people, our founder and CEO Greig Craft was invited not only to attend, but to speak! At the Promoting Safe Roads Action Network Meeting, Greig spoke about AIP Foundation's success in Vietnam and the challenges ahead, in Vietnam and abroad. In addition, Bill Clinton and Mayor Bloomberg formally recognized our plans to promote road safety around the world (check out the Youtube video - oh, and the Co-Founder and CEO of Youtube, Chad Hurley, was also there).

As a part of the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, we announced a three year plan to expand our work in Vietnam, Cambodia, India and Uganda at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting. The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative is partnership between AIP Foundation, FIA Foundation, World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and operates under the mission "a helmet on every head" in the UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011 to 2020). Here's the concept: we fought diseases like polio and smallpox with vaccines. Like these infectious diseases, road traffic crashes are devastating to their victims, their families, the medical system, and the country as a whole. And like those infectious diseases, we have a vaccine - the helmet! Helmets have been proven to reduce the likelihood of serious brain injury by 70% and fatality by 42%.

So we're taking our message abroad! We've learned a lot from our work in Vietnam that we think other countries can benefit from. Cambodia, India and Uganda have rising rates of road traffic fatalities and injuries as they motorize. We'll be partnering with local nonprofit organizations in India and Uganda. And in Cambodia, we've already begun implementing programs.

Here's the goal: 94 schools across four countries over three years receive helmets and road traffic safety training 81 million people across four countries benefit from public awareness education campaigns on road safety

Look out for more projects and updates as we gear up for a busy and exciting three years!

Links:

• Youtube Video of Clinton Recognizing our Commitment to Action
• Press Release on Clinton Global Initiative

This summer, AIP Foundation has been busy building the groundwork for new projects throughout Southeast Asia. We partnered with Chevron, Mitsui Exploration, and PTT Exploration and Production to provide a Helmets for Kids helmet donation and education program to the Batu Ampar Primary School in Batam, Indonesia. The 'Helmet Handover' Ceremony, featuring student performances, kicked off the year-long initiative in style, encouraging excitement and pride in their new helmet among the students. The Helmets for Kids program will continue throughout the year, providing activities outside the classroom pertaining to road traffic safety.

The full press release is on our website http://asiainjury.org/main/updates-newsreader/items/chevron-and-partners-sponsor-helmets-for-kids-road-safety-event-at-batam-primary-school.html.

Look for more updates soon on AIP Foundation joining the Clinton Global Initiative Conference!