WHO is supporting China's government in strengthening existing and developing new measures for preventing injuries and violence. WHO works particularly closely with China's Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) amid growing government awareness of the problem.
Road safety in China received a major boost in 2003 when the government announced the formation of a national road safety coordination committee, to be led by the Ministry of Public Security and supported by representatives from no fewer than 16 other ministries, including the Ministry of Health, to advise the State Council on all major policies and strategies for improving road safety in China. Another milestone followed in May 2004 when China's new road safety traffic law came into effect, making it mandatory for the first time in China for motorcyclists and their passengers to wear helmets and for drivers and front-seat passengers to use seatbelts; making it compulsory for drivers to have third party insurance; and seeking to protect the most vulnerable road users. The new law holds the driver responsible for all collisions with pedestrians or cyclists unless there is clear evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the non-driver. It also stipulates that social funds be set up to cover the medical expenses of road traffic victims. Though the law is not yet fully enforced or adhered too, with greater efforts in future it promises to significantly reduce the country's burden of road traffic death and disability.
With significant input from the Ministry of Health and China CDC, WHO has developed a plan to guide collaboration between WHO and China in injury prevention from 2005 to 2008. This plan focuses on the government's priority areas in injury prevention, including: preventing road traffic injuries, childhood injuries and pesticide poisonings; building the number and expertise of China's injury prevention professionals; strengthening and developing systems for tracking injuries and their economic impacts; and building safe communities. The programme could make a large difference if the substantial extra resources needed to implement it can be raised.
In the meantime, WHO is working with China's government on a range of injury prevention activities. These include strategic planning, developing systems for injury surveillance, analyzing injury data and assessing trauma care systems.
For example, in 2004 WHO worked with China CDC to organize China's first national training workshop for injury prevention practitioners. This workshop coincided with the pilot phase of the Training, Educating, Advancing Collaboration in Health on Violence and Injury Prevention programme ("TEACH VIP"), which WHO and other experts recently developed towards meeting the global need for greater skills and capacity of injury prevention practitioners (particularly in developing countries).
WHO has also been engaging in public outreach activities. In October 2004, WHO and the World Bank published a Chinese language version of their joint World report on road traffic injury prevention. To mark the occasion Chinese officials from the Ministries of Health and Public Security joined WHO for a public event symbolizing the government's growing multi-sectoral approach to road traffic injury prevention.
In 2005 WHO began working with the Ministry of Public Security and the George Institute for International Health to undertake the China Seatbelt Project. This project, which was recently completed in Guangzhou, the capital of China's Guangdong Province, aimed to increase seatbelt use by 20% in the city of 16 million, through a combination of social marketing and enhanced enforcement of road safety law. Final results of the project are not yet available, however preliminary indications suggest the objective has been achieved. It is anticipated that the demonstrated success of this project can now be exported to other provinces and locations in China.
WHO is also working with the Chinese government and UNICEF to highlight and prevent violence against children. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), UNICEF, and WHO have been requested by the United Nations General Assembly to carry out the United Nations Secretary General's Study of Violence Against Children. To contribute to this report, the country offices of these partners collaborated to facilitate the first ever meeting between senior Chinese government officials and experts on how to prevent violence against children. As in many low and middle-income countries, the full extent of the problem in China remains shrouded but a history of child abuse has been indicated by around half of those people questioned in studies for the report.
Also in 2005, WHO partnered with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Monash University Accident Research Center (MUARC), and the National Center for Chronic and Non-communicable Disease Control and Prevention of China CDC, to support a landmark workshop/symposium participated in by the Ministry of Health and the Alliance for Safe Children (TASC), on the prevention of drowning in China. This was the first event of its kind on the mainland. Through this workshop China CDC commenced an active drowning prevention intervention in Guangdong Province.
In May 2006 WHO commenced a partnership with the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) to promote the good practice manuals for road safety. The first project involves researching and advocating for strengthening of prevention of drinking and driving in China. This project will be undertaken in Guangxi Automous Region in southern China.
In October 2006, WHO and the Ministry of Health hosted a major advocacy event to highlight the burden of pesticide poisoning in China. Pesticide poisoning is the most common mechanism of suicide in China, particularly amongst rural women. This workshop brought together government officials from the health and agricultural sectors as well as suicide experts from China and WHO to propose action for preventing pesticide poisoning. Particularly promising strategies include reducing access and availability and for strengthening medical care for victims of poisoning, especially in rural areas.