Road safety receives additional boost aimed at multiplying successes in countries

Bloomberg Philanthropies has funded the Road Safety in 10 Countries (RS10) Project. In January 2012 the RS10 Project received a two-year continuation grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to further develop model programmes in select countries and monitor road safety progress worldwide. Coordinated by WHO, the consortium-based RS10 Project has achieved notable outcomes in its first two years, including increased helmet and seat-belt wearing in several countries, and reduced drinking and driving and speeding in others. 2012 marks the half-way point in this 5-year project whose overall goal is to prevent thousands of road traffic deaths and injuries.

• RS10 overview
• Global status report on road safety

Although rates vary widely across countries, up to 70% of women experience physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Intimate partner and sexual violence lead to a range of physical and mental health consequences, including injuries, depression, reproductive health problems and a poorer overall health status. Intimate partner violence not only affects victims directly, but also the physical and mental development of their children. A promising number of evidence-based strategies to prevent intimate partner and sexual violence, such as school-based programmes to prevent dating violence and interventions reducing the harmful use of alcohol, are available. 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign.

• Violence against women fact sheet
• 16 facts for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign

Every 5 seconds someone in the world dies as a result of an injury. Injuries kill about 5.8 million people each year, more than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined. Tens of millions more suffer injuries that lead to hospitalization, emergency treatment or other care. Among the causes of injury are acts of violence against others or oneself, road traffic crashes, burns, drowning, falls and poisoning. "Violence and injuries: the facts" provides the most up to date global data on violence and injuries, their causes and consequences and measures to prevent them.

• Violence and injuries: the facts

Nearly 3500 people die on the world's roads every day, and tens of millions are injured or disabled annually. The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, officially proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in March 2010, provides a framework to countries and communities to increase action to save lives on the world's roads.

• More information about the Decade
• More information about the symbol of the Decade