The second day of the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACP) summit, which will bring together heads of state next Friday and Saturday in the capital of Angola, was spent at work in Luanda.
The Young Forum, which was held to commemorate the day, featured discussions on youth involvement in road safety. According to the WHO, road traffic accidents claim the lives of about 1.25 million people annually, with 90% of the fatalities taking place in low- and middle-income nations.
The OACP Secretary General Georges Chikoti said that the approach of the governments of the organisation’s member states, with regard to Road Safety, must be “inclusive and involve the private sector”, universities, civil society and young people in general.
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“It is essential to forge inclusive and effective alliances and implement programmes at the national level to overcome the challenges in terms of Road Safety,” Chikoti said.
Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product. The newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious target of halving the global number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020.
The Angolan Ministry of Youth and Sports vowed to continue implementing road safety awareness programmes in schools and religious centres, in a country where road safety is still a struggle.
