Adnan A. Hyder, MD, MPH, PhD, senior associate dean for research and professor of global health at Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH), was the keynote speaker at the Safe Travel and Tourism Summit, held on Capitol Hill on May 13.
The Safe Travel and Tourism Summit was hosted by the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving road safety for American and international travelers worldwide. The Safe Travel and Tourism Summit aimed to increase attention on the need to improve road safety worldwide. It featured presentations from policymakers, government officials, public health experts and advocacy groups about the challenges that travelers face on roadways worldwide and how to make roads safer. Milken Institute SPH recently became a full-member of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration.
Hyder has written about the public health implications of road safety and leads the school’s research on the topic. More than one million people die from traffic accidents every year on the world’s roadways, and many of these deaths are preventable, Hyder wrote in a commentary published by The Lancet Public Health in December 2018. He says that governments, public health groups and other sectors must act to make roadways safer in all countries, including those that are popular with tourists and students.
“Measurement is not enough, implementation is key for road safety,” Hyder said in his presentation. “I stood at the UN 20 years ago and said more than one million people die from road injuries, and today I stand in the U.S. Capitol and repeat that. This is a serious wakeup call for the global community.”