Brazil releases a hard-hitting mass media campaign against drinking and driving

The Government of Brazil has released for the first time a graphic, hard-hitting mass media campaign against drinking and driving. “Drinking and driving kills” aims to draw attention to the tragic consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol. Brazil loses 37000 people on the roads every year, and many of these fatal crashes involve alcohol-impaired drivers. Produced with the support of the WHO/PAHO country office in Brazil, this new campaign underscores the messages of the country’s Vida no Trânsito (Life in Traffic) Campaign, which to date has addressed drinking and driving and speeding as key risks for death and injury. As part of a comprehensive road safety project financed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, WHO has assisted governments in ten countries to produce road safety mass media campaigns.

• Drinking and driving kills
• Road safety mass media campaigns

On 21 May, around 200 World Health Assembly participants joined an early-morning side event on “Violence against women: health impacts and role of the health sector”. The event was organized by Belgium, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA, and Zambia, with support from WHO. A concluding statement, read on behalf of the panellists by Ms Kathleen Sebelius, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, affirmed their collective commitment to addressing interpersonal violence through further strengthening WHO's capacity to address this important health issue, particularly for women and girls, and to propose an agenda item for the 67th World Health Assembly.

• More information on the event
• Violence against women: infographic

Every year, over five million people die from road traffic crashes, violence, burns, falls, and other causes of injury. GACI is a network of governmental and intergovernmental organizations as well as nongovernmental organizations, including professional societies, working internationally, which collaborate to improve care for the injured across the spectrum of pre-hospital and hospital care and rehabilitation of the injured.

• WHO launches Global Alliance for Care of the Injured (GACI)

The Global status report on road safety 2013 serves as a baseline for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, declared by the UN General Assembly. The report presents information on road safety from 182 countries, accounting for almost 99% of the world’s population. It indicates that worldwide the total number of road traffic deaths remains unacceptably high at 1.24 million per year, legislation and enforcement are still inadequate, and pedestrians and cyclists need to be better protected. Made possible through funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, this is the second in a series of Global status reports.

• Global status report on road safety 2013