World Health Organization - Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean
WHO Country Office in Lebanon

National Programmer

Injury and Accident Prevention Program

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A Training Workshop for the Islamic Risala Scout Association

. Road traffic injuries are a major public health issue in Lebanon. It is being underestimated that over 350 Lebanese are being killed by car accidents annually.

On 5 September 2004, a teamwork consisting of three members from the National Committee on Injury and Accident Prevention (Dr Talal Abbas, Dr Hanane Massri and Ms Ayat Awde) in collaboration with WSO in addition to three members from the Youth for Human Development Organization organized workshops for leaders in the Islamic Risala Scout Association in Zefta El-Kashfieh City. This workshop is the first national training workshop done for trainers. The workshop started from 10:00 A.M till 4:30 P.M. It consisted of two parts: WHO and WSO group members and Youth for Human Development (YHD) group members. Individually all the members discussed Road Safety topic

 A picture showing from the right Elie AbiMoussa (YHD), Ms Ayat Awde (AUB), Mr Ahmad Saleh (IRSA), Dr Talal Abbas (WHO),and Dr Elie Choueiri (MOT)

 The objectives of this training workshop were as follows: 

1. To implement health promotion on road safety.
2. To familiarize the leaders with road safety
3. To explain the problems of road injuries due to unawareness in the community
4. To aware the leaders about the importance of using car seats for children
5. To train the leaders in teaching the concepts and prevention of road accidents.

 The whole participants were active. Dr. Elias Choueiei, a representative for the United Nation World Safety Organization, opened the training workshop with his speech on the black spots on the road related to car accidents. He emphasized the effect of road, car and drivers on road safety. Dr. Choueiri elaborated the problems of road behavior and its dangers on the whole society. Besides, the more tangible economic and social costs of car crashes, injuries and death, widespread bad road behavior at its worst can also form an illness in the country. Barely a day passes without one or two serious accidents. It is because the basic requirements such as the vehicles and their situations: old tires, no mirrors, etc… are being ignored with impunity. According to careful analysis, he noted that the effects of seat belt usage in front seats is about 40%, which means whether the seat belt usage increases gradually to reach above 40%. This will lead to a decrease of car crashes. Therefore, the proper seat belt usage has been recognized as a major road safety measure for reducing the risk of death or serious injuries, and is a part of road safety policy around the world. Dr. Choueiri ended his discussion by recommending the use of the air bag and seat belt to reduce driver fatalities so about 45%.

 
Dr. Elie Choueiri Representative of the Ministry of Transport explains about the importance of Road Design Safety

Road traffic injuries constitutes a major public health problem, Dr. Talal Abass, the Coordinator of the National Program on Injury and Accident Prevention in the World Health Organization, indicated that the WHO has a significant role in accident prevention. From this point of view, he declared that safety promotion requires a combination between the policy makers and the public awareness. He proceeded that traffic problems are increasing due to unawareness and the bad conditions of roads.

Regarding the study on Road Safety in Lebanon that occurred in great Beirut, Dr. Talal Abass suggested a set of rules that should be applied in order to prevent car accidents.

He also provided the leaders of the Islamic Risala Scout Association a some of information that helped them to promote the health action plan on road safety. Despite the fact that about 357 Lebanese were killed in car crashes in 2003, Dr. Abass found that the majority of people neither uses seat belt nor abide the rules and regulations of road safety. Moreover, he added that enormous human, social, and economic losses are caused by these accidents; thus they pose a major public health threat to the community

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Dr Talal Abbas (WHO) helding a discussion

  Dr. Hanane Masri Zeater, a pediatrician, stated in her presentation the importance of child car seats especially in the current situation of the roads in Lebanon. She explained the way of choosing the right car seat for all ages, which meets safety standards; for smaller babies, not only make sure the car seat is not too big, but also look for a restraint with a distance of less than 25 cm between the lowest shoulder strap slots and the seat bottom, advised the pediatrician. The back seat is the safest place for children. Babies should be in a car seat that faces the rear and is placed in the middle of the back seat of the vehicle. Never place your baby in front of an air bag, Dr. Zeater added. Furthermore, people should never leave their baby alone in a car seat. When the baby is set safely in the car, secure him/her with the vehicle’s seat belt and make sure it is tight. Due to negligence of these facts, traffic accidents remain to be the number one cause of death for children between 4 to 14 years old. At the end of her presentation, Dr. Hanane reported that if the baby weighs 10 kg, he might be estimated as if he is about 200 kg under a car crash, so the mother should  never carry the baby during her way on the road unless in a car seat.

Even for road safety and behavior, learning strategies are important to implement health promotion instructions. Miss Ayat Awdeh, an Public Health graduate from the American University of Beirut and a participant in many studies regarding the occupational hazards and road safety at the WHO, taught about the Learning Strategies for Implementing Road Safety Instruction. She said that driving standards are poor and the accident rate high. Traffic lights are not always observed. Self-drive hire is best left to the experience. Taxis are not always in good condition.

Also, she talked about Decision-making Agenda, which begins by the definition of the problem, Analysis of the problem, Criteria for solution, Generation of possible solutions, Evaluation according to criteria, Selection of the optimum solution, Plan for action.

In addition to the goal of the study should general and abstract e.g. Road Safety implementation strategies; and the objective must be clear and specific e.g. to assess the road safety situation in Lebanon and set rules for prevention. In her presentation, Ayat also spoke about speed control and re-enforced learning strategies on road safety instruction with a team work constructed to conduct a behavioral objectives that is a statement describing a proposed change in behavior as a result of a health promotion program. Besides, she discussed the criteria for solution by providing learning strategies such as to define ways to apply training: Select strategies that contribute to total learning. e.g. some activities lend the student to acquiring knowledge, where as others are better suited to attitude assessment and the strategies selected should help the student develop the ability to reason and assess the information being presented. Any strategy selected should involve the student as participants in the activity.

She added that the more complex the concept, the more activities needed to develop the concept. As a general rule, for each concept, two strategies or activities should be employed. If the material being studied is difficult, more than two strategies or activities should be used. Another reason for using more than one strategy is that students learn in a variety of ways and through different means. The strategies selected should begin with the simple and move to the more complex. Moreover, audiovisual aids should be included whenever possible. Miss Ayat concluded her presentation by talking about the values clarification strategies must be applied:

–Students must perceive the issue as being important

–Students must believe that they are susceptible to the problem

–Students must believe that the problem is serious

–The intensity of the threat and resultant anxiety must not be so great as to paralyze the ability to act

There must be an action to take that individual believes will be effective

In the same manner, the youth for human development organization prepared audiovisual aids for achievement of the training workshop; they showed a film recorded from a TV show on TV5 channel. This show tells about the victims who went away by car accidents. The participants of this organization were Diab Kaii, who told the leaders about his experience, students and orientations in his newborn organization, and Elie Abi Moussa who talked about the different means of teaching children from age 6 to 14 years.

 A film showed victims who went away by car accidents

The participants of this organization were Diab Kaii, who told the leaders about his experience, students and orientations in his newborn organization, and Elie Abi Moussa who talked about the different means of teaching children from age 6 to 14

 In summary, this training workshop for trainers was done at the first time at the WHO in Lebanon. Dr. Elias Shoeiry ended the workshop by showing different kinds of driving strategies followed by Dr. Talal Abass who participate in most road safety discussion. The Islamic Risala Scout Association thanked the team presence and their efforts that were exerted to progress the project on the road injury prevention. On the coming future, there will be more training session on road safety measures and other subject that would help the following generation exceed those problems in safe. Finally, the leaders recommended policies and punishments for non-abidance citizens to rules and regulations on road behavior.

 For more information contact: Dr Talal Abbas, Accident and Injury
 prevention program coordinator