World Health Day 2004 global event

For the first time in the history of the World Health Organization, World Health Day was devoted to road safety. The slogan for the day was "Road Safety is No Accident."

The global event was celebrated on 7 April 2004 in Paris, France.

President Jacques Chirac of France

The event was hosted by President Jacques Chirac of France, who delivered a powerful keynote speech calling road traffic collisions an "evil which strikes at the modern world". He stressed the need for political commitment to road safety at the highest level and called for action by all countries to address this crisis.

Dr J.W. Lee, Director-General of the World Health Organization, officially launched the World report on road traffic injury prevention and handed a copy of the report to President Chirac. This report emphasizes the role of public health in the prevention of road traffic injuries. It offers countries six recommendations for action on road safety at a national level.

Dr Lee called for a concerted effort in road safety, particularly among the public health community, saying that "We must now use every day to act on road safety, and implement effective sustainable action to prevent injury and death on the world's roads".

President Chirac and Dr J.W. Lee

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, was featured in a video pledging his support to World Health Day and calling on all countries to take heed of the growing toll of road traffic collisions and begin implementing preventive action.

- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statment; Running time 3:18 [mpg 31Mb] | [rm]
- World Health Day 2004 montage; running time 9:47 [96.6Mb]

Mr Ari Vatanen, a member of the European Parliament for Finland, and Ms Geneviève Jurgensen, Founder of the Ligue contre la Violence Routière, France, gave powerful testimonials about how road traffic collisions have impacted their lives.

Mr Ari Vatanen

Ms Geneviève Jurgensen

Panel discussion

Two panel discussions were held including many national representatives. The first panel discussed "International cooperation regarding the implementation of the recommendations of the World report on road traffic injury prevention". Panel members were Dr Adnan Hyder (Special Adviser, Pakistan Medical Research Council), Dr Kwaku Afriyie (Minister of Health, Ghana), Mr Muhamed bin Adbullah bin Issa Al Harthy (Minister of Transport, Sultanate of Oman), Mr David Ward (Director General, FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society), Ms Rochelle Sobel (President, Association for Safe International Road Travel) and Ms Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard (Director, Transport and Urban Development, World Bank).

Dr Marc Danzon

Mr Fuad Mubarak Al Hinai

The second panel discussed "Successes and promising initiatives". The opening remarks were given by Mr Gilles de Robien (Minister of Transport, France) and the panel members were Mr Norman Mineta (Secretary of Transport, USA), Professor Claes Tingvall (Director, Road Safety, Swedish National Road Administration), Ms Marie Souckova (Minister of Health, Czech Republic), Mr Jose Antonio Alvarado (Minister of Health, Nicaragua) and Mr Louis Schweitzer (Director-General, Renault).

The closing statements were given by Dr Marc Danzon, Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and Mr Fuad Mubarak Al Hinai, the Permanent representative of the Sultanate of Oman at the United Nations.

Related links

The global event ended with a press conference.

World Health Day 2004 global event: 1,2 | Media coverage