MOMBASA, Kenya, Jan 30 – Vital Strategies Road Safety Director Sylviane Ratte has committed to saving lives and improving road safety measures in Mombasa City.
Ratte said after paying a courtesy call to Mombasa County Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir together with Vital’s Africa Deputy Director Daniel Chekol.
Vital Strategies is an international public health organization and implementing partner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).
Mombasa joined the initiative in June 2022, to promote road safety through speed management, increased police enforcement, passage of new policies/strengthening existing regulations, and public education.
“The County Government of Mombasa is appreciative of the support from development partners such as Bloomberg Philanthropies that enable us to deliver on our constitutional mandate to provide safe, reliable, and secure mobility for our rapidly urbanizing population,” Nassir said.
“For our city county to thrive, mobility shall play a fundamental role in driving our economic activities and it is incumbent on this Administration to ensure it does so in a manner that preserves life,” he added.
The Coastal Town is among 27 global cities that were chosen to participate in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety 2020-2025 period.
The devolved-unit will receive technical support from international experts within the BIGRS consortium to enhance data collection systems and analysis besides developing new systems for planning, monitoring, and evaluation.
BIGRS will progressively monitor the impact of the initiative on key metrics such as crashes, crash-related non-fatal injuries, and crash-related fatalities.
“Traffic crashes cause nearly 1.3 million deaths each year, globally, and urgent action is needed to enact data-driven interventions to save lives,” said Ratte.
“The BIGRS consortium of road safety experts is here to support Mombasa City with resources that will enable them to implement bold, ambitious road safety activities to prevent loss of life on the roads,” she added.
BIGRS promotes road safety strategies through high-quality monitoring and evaluation systems for policy and planning, road user behavior improvement through enforcement of laws and communication campaigns, and designing as well as building safer roads for all.
“Road safety is a critical issue in Mombasa City, and we are committed to working with BIGRS to implement proven strategies that will save lives and decrease injuries,” Nassir added.
Participating BIGRS locations within Africa include Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Kampala, Uganda; and Accra and Kumasi, Ghana.
