Malawi’s road safety progress and iRAP advocacy for President Mutharika’s involvement in the upcoming Réunion de haut niveau de l'ONU sur la sécurité routière in New York has recently featured on the country’s Sunrise television program.
Malawi is one of over 40 countries that have responded positively thus far to iRAP’s letter campaign confirming local initiatives to promote the UN meeting opportunity and encourage high-level representation.
Joel Jere, Executive Director of Road Safety Alert Foundation (ROSAF), interviewed for the piece, described iRAP’s letter to the President as a welcome invitation and opportunity to demonstrate the country’s commitment to reducing road traffic fatalities and injuries.
ROSAF is working with the government to advocate for evidence-based measures to eliminate high-risk roads and improve road safety for all road users aligned to UN Targets 3 and 4 for safer roads.
The UN High-level Meeting on Global Road Safety will be held at UN Headquarters in New York from 20-21 July. L'événement rassemblera des chefs d'État et de gouvernement, des ministres, des fonctionnaires et des experts issus des gouvernements, de l'ONU, de la société civile, du monde universitaire, du secteur privé et de fondations philanthropiques afin de faire progresser la réalisation de l'objectif de réduire de moitié le nombre de décès et de blessures sur les routes d'ici 2030, tel qu'il a été convenu dans la décennie d'action des Nations unies pour la sécurité routière 2021-2030 et les objectifs de développement durable.
ROSAF’s Joel Jere said, “Malawi is doing quite well in terms of road safety and implementation for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030.
“Malawi has committed to reducing road deaths by 50 per cent by 2030 in line with the Decade of Action, and the High-level Meeting is a very big opportunity for the country to share its progress and commitments for the next five years to advance road safety,” he said.
ROSAF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting road safety awareness, reducing traffic crashes, and advocating for safer transport systems through education, community engagement, and public initiatives.
“We will continue our work until we see that Malawi is getting there in achieving global standards for crash reductions. This is a very, very important summit that we cannot afford to miss. It gives assurance to international partners that have desire to support the country,” he added.
Watch the Sunrise interview:
It is estimated that preventable road crashes result in death and life-changing injuries for over 57,000 people in Malawi every year, with an annual economic cost in excess of US$583 million (Safety Insights Explorer).
Malawi has already made important progress towards achieving the Global Road Safety Performance Target 3 for all new roads to be 3-star or better by 2030 and Target 4 for more than 75 per cent of travel to be on safe roads for all road users by 2030.
Partner-led iRAP activity has assessed 1,233km of roads and designs, and 23 schools, including in an EIB financed M1 Rehabilitation Project. The assessments are influencing the safety of $746 million of road infrastructure investment. Malawi’s 2023-2030 National Road Safety Strategy includes for Road Safety Audits to be completed for all new roads, and a minimum 3-Star iRAP Rating to be achieved for all road users. 125 people have benefited from iRAP global/on-line training, along with 121 people trained in events delivered locally. iRAP’s support programme with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (2022-2025) supported capacity building in the country.
National leadership to ensure most travel happens on roads rated 3-stars or better for safety in Malawi will save an estimated 506,253 deaths and injuries over the life of the treatments with an economic benefit of $257.5 million.
Read more on iRAP’s letter campaign to Heads of State and Governments ahead of the UN High-level Meeting for Road Safety ici.
Convoquée par le Président de l'Assemblée générale des Nations Unies et l'Organisation mondiale de la santé, la Réunion de haut niveau de 2026 a pour thème ‘Intensifier et accélérer la mise en œuvre des engagements visant à diviser par deux le nombre de morts et de blessés sur les routes d'ici 2030.’
Lire davantage iRAP in Malawi news here.