Safe and sustainable transportation is gaining recognition as essential for delivery of the Global Goals development priorities; efforts to combat climate change and to achieve the objectives set by the Paris Agreement; and the Habitat III ‘new urban agenda’.
Yet while the vital role for provision of safe, low-carbon transport, accessibility for low income and vulnerable groups, and strategic urban planning are becoming recognised, the specific mobility needs and rights of children lack a voice. This is the role the Child Health Initiative is designed to fill.
Hosted at, and coordinated by, the FIA Foundation, the Child Health Initiative focuses on these rights of every child:
Through delivery of Global Goal targets 3.6 (road safety); 3.9 (air quality); 11.2 (safe & sustainable urban mobility); & 11.7 (safe, green & accessible public space), our mission:
To build a coalition of country and donor support for the objective of a safe and healthy journey to school for all children by 2030 through promotion of ‘safe system’ transportation design and urban planning; promoting safe footpaths, cycle lanes and lower vehicle speed limits; legislation and interventions for motorcycle helmet and seat belt use and safe & affordable public transport; and supporting policy and technical interventions to bring air quality levels within World Health Organization guidelines.
“To be able to get a child to school safely can be done, it is done in many places, but it requires actual decisions that it is to be done.”
Dr William Foege, Senior Fellow, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
In India, road traffic injuries and air pollution exact a high price in human health. This short film tells the story of one Indian family bereaved of a child in a road crash; the Save the Children activists working with children to uncover the risks they face going to school; and the hospitals struggling to cope with the flow of injured from the busy streets of Delhi.
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