WHO, CJID: African Road Safety Media Guidelines Under Development

• The World Health Organization and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development are co-hosting a three-day forum in Abuja to develop African media guidelines for road safety reporting.
• Road deaths are increasing in the WHO African Region, with approximately 250,000 fatalities annually, and Nigeria records the highest number in the region.
• The initiative aims to shift media reporting from focusing on individual blame to highlighting systemic issues, utilizing a "Safe Systems approach."
• Twenty media professionals and experts from five African countries are participating to establish stronger African road crash reporting standards.
• The new guidelines, expected by mid-2027, will emphasize accountability for systemic factors like road design, enforcement, and regulation.

He stated that the goal is to correct misconceptions surrounding an urgent and preventable public health crisis, fostering accountability for actions that can save lives.

A three-day African media forum on road safety is currently underway in Abuja, Nigeria, co-hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID). The primary objective of this gathering is to initiate the development of comprehensive media guidelines for reporting road crashes and safety across the African continent. This crucial event brings together twenty editors, journalists, content creators, and road safety experts from five African nations: Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda. Attendees represent prominent media organizations such as the BBC, AFP, Deutsche Welle, Xinhua, AllAfrica, Premium Times, Nation Media, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

This initiative comes at a critical time, as road fatalities in the WHO African Region are experiencing an alarming increase, contrasting sharply with a global decline. The region records approximately 250,000 road deaths annually, which translates to one fatality every two minutes. Despite possessing only three percent of the world's registered vehicles, Africa accounts for about one-fifth of global road deaths. Nigeria, in particular, faces a severe challenge, reporting over 36,000 road deaths each year, the highest figure within the region.

The Abuja road safety reporting forum aims to address a significant shortcoming in how road incidents are typically covered by the media. Current reporting often focuses narrowly on individual drivers, victims, or the immediate circumstances of a crash, frequently overlooking deeper, systemic issues. These systemic factors, such as inadequate road design, lax enforcement, and insufficient regulation, are crucial in determining whether crashes result in severe injury or death.

Dr. Pavel Ursu, the WHO Representative in Nigeria, emphasized the forum's objective to bridge the divide between scientific evidence and public narratives. He stated that the goal is to correct misconceptions surrounding an urgent and preventable public health crisis, fostering accountability for actions that can save lives. Ursu highlighted the potential for media leaders to reshape public discourse, ultimately driving the adoption of effective Nigeria road safety policy media and broader African road crash reporting standards.

The proposed media guidelines will be rooted in the "Safe Systems approach," a framework that acknowledges human error on roads as inevitable and advocates for designing transport systems that can absorb these mistakes without leading to fatalities or serious injuries. This approach integrates multiple elements, including safer infrastructure, appropriate speed limits, robust laws and regulations, and effective enforcement mechanisms, all designed to mitigate risks across the entire transport system. This focus on a Safe Systems approach road safety media strategy is central to the new guidelines.

Dr. Nhan Tran, Head of Safety and Mobility at WHO, underscored the philosophy behind this approach, stating that it prioritizes building safe environments for people over facilitating fast-moving vehicles. He reiterated that safety must be the paramount concern, and transport systems must be resilient enough to accommodate human errors without catastrophic consequences. Dapo Olorunyomi, CEO of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, noted that the forum also addresses journalism's role in making certain issues visible. He pointed out that while road crashes are often presented as isolated tragedies, the underlying conditions contributing to their deadliness—such as road design, enforcement, regulation, speed, and public transport—are fundamentally public policy matters. Olorunyomi expressed the desire to collaborate with African editors and journalists to establish a more rigorous reporting standard that helps the public understand these connections and consistently question who is responsible for enhancing road safety.

This Abuja road safety reporting forum is an integral part of the World Health Organization's wider global initiative to improve road safety journalism. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, this program has already trained over 5,000 reporters in countries with high road fatality rates, leading to award-winning reporting in Ghana, Nigeria, and India. The discussions at the forum will also explore the interconnectedness of road safety with sustainable mobility, public health, and climate action.

The comprehensive WHO CJID African road safety media guidelines are anticipated to be finalized by mid-2027, marking a significant step towards improving road safety outcomes across the continent through enhanced media coverage.

Lawyers advising clients in transport, infrastructure, or automotive sectors should monitor the development of these media guidelines. A shift in reporting focus to systemic failures (e.g., regulation, enforcement) could influence future public policy, legislative action, and potentially increase regulatory scrutiny or litigation risk for entities responsible for road safety.

Source: Reporting from the Abuja forum.