Vietnam - July 31, 2019

From January to June this year, Helmets for Families, supported by Abbott, carried out school-based educational campaigns and helmet distribution programming in 10 primary schools across three provinces in Ho Chi Minh City. Four new primary schools in Nha Be district with 11,311 students and 534 teachers and school staff were selected for 2019-2020 programming based on the road environment of the school, the economic need of the community, and low helmet wearing rates among the community.

A special component of the Helmets for Families programming this year included the coordination of meetings between health professionals from head injury departments and parents and teachers from the four new program schools. In March, parents and teachers met with health professionals at Cho Ray Hospital and visited road crash victims who have suffered from brain injuries. Their discussions with Doctor Tran Quang Vinh, Head of Neuro-Resuscitation, and Doctor Huynh Le Phuong, Head of Neurosurgery, on the consequences of road crashes and on the causes of brain injury are part of a longer video that will be shown to all target program school teachers and parents in upcoming September.

With the introduction of Helmets for Families programming in the four new schools in Nha Be district, AIP Foundation found that the average helmet wearing rate among students increased significantly from 40.6% to 82.2%. These results demonstrate the importance of incorporating numerous approaches to address public health crises, from helmet distributions to conversations between medical professionals and community members.