TRAFIC

The burden of road traffic accidents, their associated traumas and the consequences on public health in low- and middle-income countries are urgent matters to tackle. These concerns have already been discussed in various public debates for a long time, finally leading to an action plan launched in 2011 by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank during the “Worldwide Decade of Global Action for Road Safety”. However, the conclusion today is that there are still huge differences of results among geographical regions. Death rates linked to road traffic accidents are the highest in Africa. They also represent the 8th cause of mortality (all-cause deaths) and the 1st cause of death among 15-29 years old. In western Africa, no specific measure for the reduction of road accidents and traumas has been evaluated until now. TRAFIC project aims to gather a European-African team specialised on the issue of road traffic accidents and traumas, and capable of leading an interventional research, useful for the comprehension and reduction of this burden. The project will tackle the subject in a cross-sectoral manner, from transports to population health. The interdisciplinarity of members of the network will allow to assess each particular situation using diverse methods and approaches and thus provide at the end, the most accurate action plan. The network will focus in the best methods to produce reliable data on accidents and trauma. On this purpose, the network will gather a wide range of academicals’ disciplines: geography of health, public health, transports geography, sociology-anthropology, economy, traumas medical experts, epidemiology and legal experts. In order to enhance its impact on society, the network also aims to be intersectorial with the integration of international and African NGOs, consultants and the private sector in charge of developing innovative technologies of surveillance. All members of the network, both in Europe and Africa, are necessary to study broadly and in a transversal manner the issue of road accidents and their consequences and provide recommendations on best interventions to prioritise. The innovative aspect of the project will be based on a mixed method research, where all methods are used equally in the conclusions analysis. The ambition of the project will be to fill the knowledge-gap on available and reliable data, and add a knowledge-do on how to reduce road traffic traumas. In order to achieve this, the network will concentrate its efforts in conceiving and developing surveillance systems of accidents and traumas, together with knowledge exchange between members. TRAFIC project is aiming to submit a MSCA-RISE proposal by april 2019 which will be a trigger to share knowledge, disseminate results and good practices, to enhance and build capacity of academical colleagues from research Institutes and universities in Africa, but also to reinforce the collaboration with non-academic partners (consultants and NGOs) in order to maximise the dissemination impact towards policy actors and society.