By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

The World Health Organization in cooperation with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other government and private agencies has just concluded on Friday April 27 World Injury Week with a road safety workshop at the Palasia Hotel.
The workshop was in preparation of the World Road Traffic Injury Day yesterday with WHO representative and Fiji-based Dr. Li Dan as resource speaker.
Dr. Li discussed the current global issues and presented data showing road traffic injuries the leading cause of death for the youth aged between 10-24 years.
Of the 1.2 million people who lose their lives in road traffic crashes each year, almost a third of them are youth under the age of 25 years.
According to the Youth Declaration for Road Safety which was adopted at the Global Youth Assembly for Road Safety at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, more than 90 percent of these fatal crashes occur in low-income and middle-income countries.
It said that in these settings, road users most likely to be involved in a crash are pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and passengers, while in high-income countries they are drivers.
The cost of road crash injuries is estimated to be between one percent to 1.5 percent of the gross national product in low-income and middle-income countries, increasing to two percent in high-income countries.
During the April 27 workshop in Palau, a pilot project for this purpose was launched with an initial funding of $8,000 for the Ministry of Justice.
Dr. Steven Kuartei said that the money would be spent for surveillance and systems development purposes.
"Then we will evaluate it if it works," Kuartei said.
Last Sunday, a meeting was held with Vice President and Justice Minister Elias Camsek Chin, WHO and MOH as they discussed these injuries in general and violence among youth.
Kuartei said they have spent reviewing and finalizing situation analysis on Injury and Violence in Palau and to come-up with a prevention control committee that would identify issues and formulate a strategic framework.