Safe journey for every child

10 June 2016

A new Global Initiative for Child Health & Mobility has been launched to promote action on road traffic crashes and air pollution, two leading causes of death, serious injury and chronic illness for children across the world.

With at least 500 children killed every day on the world’s roads, thousands more injured in road traffic crashes and millions suffering from chronic respiratory illness or stunting as a result of air pollution, a significant proportion of which can be attributed to motor vehicles, there is a clear need to make safe and sustainable mobility a priority policy issue. The Child Health Initiative aims to work to support three key rights of the child:

  • Safe, accessible, low-carbon mobility to promote equity and combat poverty

  • Clean air and a healthy environment;

  • The role of safe and healthy mobility in enabling the right to an education.

The Child Health Initiative comprises a founding partnership of UNICEF, Save the Children, UNEP, the World Resources Institute, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the FIA Foundation. Intended as an implementation partnership for the Global Goals, the headline mission is to work towards a vision that, by 2030, every child should enjoy a safe and healthy journey to school.

The initiative was launched on 7th June 2016 at an event held at ODI in London, with key note speakers including:

• road safety advocate Zoleka Mandela
• ODI Executive Director Kevin Watkins
• the Chairman of the FIA Foundation, Lord Robertson
• the new Executive Director of UNICEF UK, Michael Penrose.

More information is available on the Global Initiative for Child Health and Mobility web site.