Past Events

RTIRN Symposium: Evaluating Road Safety Interventions for Health Outcomes

Date: 8 May, 2008

Venue: Berjaya Times Square Hotel and Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

MIROS Staff at the Registration Desk

This symposium, hosted by the RTIRN and arranged in collaboration with the Malaysian Institute for Road Safety Research (MIROS), aimed at achieving the RTIRN's objective of equipping local and national researchers with road safety knowledge and sound research skills. It was organized under the network's 'Regional Workshops' Project, being undertaken as part of the World Bank Trust Fund grant that was recently received by the RTIRN.

The symposium included two scientific sessions, the first of which was chaired by RTIRN board member Professor Radin Umar, Director General - MIROS. After an introduction to RTIRN by Dr Kulanthayan Mani of University Putra Malaysia , board chair, Professor Robyn Norton of the George Institute, Australia made her presentation on the Principles of Evaluations of Interventions. A discussion with the audience followed reflections on this by board vice-chair, Dr Adnan Hyder of the Johns Hopkins University , USA .

Professor Radin Umar, Director General, MIROS

Dr Martha Hijar

Professor Robyn Norton and Dr Adnan Hyder

The second scientific session, chaired by Dr Margie Peden of the WHO, Switzerland , focused on practical examples of evaluating road safety interventions in different countries. Representing Pakistan was RTIRN Secretary, Dr Junaid A Razzak of the Aga Khan University, while a perspective from Ghana was presented by Dr Francis Afukaar. Board member Dr Martha Hijar presented her experiences with road safety interventions in Mexico . This session was followed by another highly interactive discussion with the audience.

The symposium concluded with a final session, chaired by RTIRN board member Dr Abdul Ghaffar from the Global Forum for Health Research, Switzerland. The keynote speaker in this session was Datuk Suret Singh, the Director General of the Road Safety Department in Malaysia . After reflections on the session by board member Dr Gururaj Gopalakrishna, a vote of thanks was given by board member, Professor Wilson Odero.

Datuk Suret Singh, Director General, Road Safety Department , Malaysia

Dr Margie Peden

Questions from the audience

The symposium was well-attended, with over 100 participants from varying backgrounds including health, transport, engineering and statistics. Apart from providing scientific knowledge regarding evaluations for interventions in health, the symposium also presented an opportunity for networking among researchers working in different areas of road safety, and served to pique the interest of many researchers towards working in this area.

The resource material from the symposium, including the presentations made, can be found here.

• Evaluating Road Safety Intervention The case of Ghana.
• Evaluation of Health Outcomes What can we learn from Public health
• Prehospital care Health Outcomes in Pakistan and other countries
• Research Interventions on RTIs in Mexico
• Principles of evaluation of interventions - Evaluating road safety interventions for health outcomes