Report from The World Bank Group
The Role of Alcohol in Road Traffic injuries in Malawi
The number of road traffic accidents has decreased in high-income countries the last ten years. The opposite is the trend for low- and middle-income countries. This report shows that there is a very clear connection between alcohol use and road traffic accidents in Malawi.
The report, written by Asbjørg S. Christophersen and Elin H. Wyller from Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Stig Tore Bogstrand and Hallvard Gjerde from Oslo University Hospital, and Mads Sundet from Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo, Norway, is coming out of the The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) set up by the World Bank and donors. This is a global multi-donor fund. Its mission is to help governments develop road safety management capacity and scale up road safety delivery in LMIC, including scientific and technological capacities. As it is put in the report, the ovjective of the study (...)
was to generate new knowledge about road traffic injuries in Malawi and the extent of traffic accidents related to alcohol use, to increase capacity to conduct alcohol-testing, and develop a database for the findings, which in turn will form the basis for future policymaking to reduce traffic accidents (from the executive summary).
The report shows that the prevalence of alcohol use is high among several injured road user groups and that about 15 percent of injured motor vehicle drivers and riders had a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit when they were injured. Also, The findings also show that about one of five of the bus/minibus/lorry drivers that were injured tested positive for alcohol. A third major finding is that pedestrians had the highest prevalence of alcohol use before being injured.
Read more in the report
