Mombasa County Governor His Excellency Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir today hosted Vital Strategies Road Safety Director Sylviane Ratte and Africa Deputy Director Daniel Chekol, who paid him a courtesy call to affirm their commitment to saving lives and improving road safety in Mombasa City.Vital Strategies is an international public health organization and implementing partner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).
In June 2022, Mombasa County joined the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Road Safety to work with support from technical partners on promoting road safety through speed management, increased police enforcement, passing new policies/strengthening existing regulations, public education through mass media campaigns and improvement of road infrastructure within Mombasa County.
“The County Government of Mombasa is appreciative of the support from development partners such as Bloomberg Philanthropies that enable us to deliver on our constitutional mandate to provide safe, reliable, and secure mobility for our rapidly urbanizing population.” Mombasa County Governor His Excellency Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir said.
“For our city county to thrive, mobility shall play a fundamental role in driving our economic activities and it is incumbent on this Administration to ensure it does so in a manner that preserves life. As Governor, I am committed to this partnership, and I look forward to delivering on its full potential.” He added.
Mombasa City is among the 27 from around the world selected to participate in the 2020-2025 phase of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety.
“Daily tasks like traveling to work, school or the market should not put lives at risk. Traffic crashes cause nearly 1.3 million deaths each year, globally, and urgent action is needed to enact data-driven interventions to save lives,” said Sylviane Ratte, Vital Strategies Road Safety Director. “We are excited to meet with stakeholders in Mombasa County and Mombasa City—political will is critical to improving road safety in Mombasa. The BIGRS consortium of road safety experts is here to support Mombasa City with resources that will enable them to implement bold, ambitious road safety activities to prevent loss of life on the roads.”
BIGRS focuses on promoting proven road safety strategies, including using data from high-quality monitoring and evaluation systems for policy and planning, improving road user behavior through enforcement of road safety laws and communication campaigns, and designing and building safer roads for all. The 2020-2025 phase of BIGRS has a particular focus on speed management, as speed is a leading cause of traffic deaths and injuries around the world.
“Road safety is a critical issue in Mombasa City, and we are committed to working with BIGRS to implement proven strategies that will save lives and decrease injuries,” said Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir. “We are grateful for the support of BIGRS and Vital Strategies in helping us achieve this goal.”
Mombasa County is receiving technical support from international experts within the BIGRS consortium to enhance their systems of data collection and analysis, and develop new systems as needed for planning, monitoring, and evaluation. BIGRS will progressively monitor the progress and evaluate the impact of the initiative on key metrics, including crashes, crash-related non-fatal injuries, and crash-related fatalities.
Participating BIGRS locations within Africa include: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Kampala, Uganda; and Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, forming a network of visionary leaders who commit to implementing bold new efforts and strengthening existing strategies to save lives by improving road safety with the assistance from the world’s leading experts in road safety.