South-east asian nations must take steps to reduce road mishap deaths: WHO

The World Health Organization on Monday called on countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region to accelerate measures to reduce road traffic deaths, a leading cause of mortality among young people aged 15-29.

"Vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists and two or three-wheelers constitute 66 per cent of all reported road traffic deaths in our region," said Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, in her address at the 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (Safety 2024) which began here today.

She emphasised that the roads and their networks need to be designed prioritising those most at risk -- children and adolescents, people with disabilities, pedestrians and other vulnerable groups.

The WHO South-East Asia Region accounted for 330,223 of the 1.19 million estimated global road traffic deaths in 2021, representing 28 pc of the global burden, the WHO said in a statement.

With 70 per cent of the global population projected to live i