Bloomberg Philanthropies has been supporting Bangladesh through several programmes including road safety. Could you give us an overview of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ programmes in Bangladesh, particularly road safety?
Kelly Larson: Bloomberg Philanthropies started supporting road safety globally in 2009. The current programme has supported efforts in Bangladesh since 2020, but we've also supported tobacco control in Bangladesh since 2007. We started a programme on drowning prevention in Bangladesh because we know that 10,000 one- to four-year-olds drown every single year here in Bangladesh, and we wanted to better understand how we could prevent those deaths. So we partnered with CIPRB, Center for Injury Prevention Research Bangladesh, as well as icddr,b to see what was most effective to reduce drowning deaths amongst one- to four-year-olds. We found was that children in childcare centers that have supervision during the day had an 88% reduction in drowning deaths. So we started in 2012 and continued providing childcare to over 50,000 children in Bangladesh. We are so thrilled that the government of Bangladesh in 2022 approved a budget to take on the childcare centers that we're currently supporting and expanding that to support 200,000 children. We also have a programme, Data for Health, that is working to improve death and birth registration, so we better understand who is dying and how, why they're dying, to better inform policies around public health issues.
Those are just a few of the programmes, but around the table today are partners working to reduce road traffic fatalities in Bangladesh, and we're doing that in a number of different ways. We're supporting the government to strengthen road safety laws, and then we're also working with the Dhaka North City Corporation and the Chattogram City Corporation to actually implement interventions that will save lives, and that would include police enforcement, redesigning city streets for people and not just the vehicles that travel on the roads, and also strengthening data. We also work to strengthen communications, to train journalists on road safety and the important aspects of road safety, and we'll be developing media campaigns that can help inform the public on some new legislation that has come into place through the work of local partners here on the ground in Bangladesh.
What are your observations about significant developments since the previous situation and how significant are the problems?
Kelly Larson: We started the road safety work in 2020, and we've had some significant progress, some significant partnerships with local organisations that are leading the way to help strengthen legislation and advocating and pushing governments to ensure that there are strong road safety laws. For example, just recently Bangladesh became the first country in Asia to make WHO best-practice speed limit policies. Speed management is critical to saving lives, and we're thrilled that Bangladesh is proving to be a leader on speed management throughout Asia. And then also, we are looking at the partnership between the international and local partners that are prioritising road safety and the different governments. In Dhaka North City Corporation and Chattogram City Corporation, we have the support of the administrators. We have the Metropolitan Police that are on board to strengthen their enforcement of road safety issues, predominantly speed. The police are sharing data with the city corporations, and so there's cooperation between local organisations as well as the different city agencies to ensure that they're following best practices on road safety.
Prothom Alo :
Do you think there is a gap between practice and policy?
Kelly Larson: It is great to have a strong policy and it's essential to any road safety work, but then comes practice and the implementation. Implementation is critical because if you don't have implementation, the policy doesn't mean much, and so right now we're working very closely with the Metropolitan Police, with the different agencies at the national level to ensure that there are guidelines on speed management. When you have a specific law in place, it needs to be implemented. We're very optimistic that that the implementation will be effective and comprehensive.
Prothom Alo :
Government agencies often feel they are enough to implement their own road safety. They're not bothered about taking assistance from non-government organisations. How can we make a bridge between government agencies and non-government organisations?
Kelly Larson: Bangladesh has a very strong civil society on many different public health issues, including road safety. Through the Global Road Safety Partnership, we're supporting local organisations to really push the government to ensure that strong policies are adopted and also implemented. Bangladesh is unique because they already have a very vibrant civil society, an engaged and active civil society. And it's required to have an active civil society if you're going to have to push government to strengthen laws, whether it be for tobacco control, whether it be pushing to ensure the government takes on drowning prevention, or in this instance, road safety. We've seen some great outcomes from the work of local organisations here in Bangladesh to strengthen policies.
In 2018, there was a mass protest initiated by students for road safety. The government then initiated a road transport law, but it was not functionally adequate. What are your thoughts on this matter?
Kelly Larson: We need a steady drumbeat of strong civil society to continue to push government. I recall the two students that were killed. It's a tragedy that they were killed. And it happens every single day. And we really recognise the importance of drawing the attention of government to these issues. And so that uprising was important. Perhaps it didn't get the specific outcomes that we were hoping for, but we've seen a steady drumbeat of advocacy for road safety in Bangladesh.
Prothom Alo :
The implementation of this law is weak. So how can this law be implemented and how can it help?
Kelly Larson: Our model at Bloomberg Philanthropies through the Initiative for Global Road Safety is to bring in technical assistance that can support the different agencies to ensure that the laws are implemented while including support to civil society to continue to push government on implementation and advocacy for these policies. For example, we are partnering with the Global Road Safety Partnership to support the Metropolitan Police in implementation of speed management. They're providing standard operating procedures, best practice speed enforcement, equipment for the traffic police to actually enforce speed. We recognise that sometimes the expertise may not exist in a specific country, but throughout our initiative, our goal is to build the capacity of the organisations that are responsible for implementation, and we do that by bringing in organisations that have expertise, that can share lessons and build the capacity of the leaders as well as those doing the implementation.
Prothom Alo :
How do see the impact of the Road Safety programme in Bangladesh?
Kelly Larson: In Asia, Bangladesh is now a leader on speed management. Speed kills about half of the 1.19 million people that die every single year globally. The speed limit guideline is a significant win for Bangladesh. The government is taking the lead in working to reduce road traffic fatalities and understanding the impact of road traffic crashes and injuries. And then there is the cross-collaboration across agencies within Dhaka North City Corporation and Chattogram. They've been redesigning high-risk intersections. They've been strengthening and sharing data. They are working to increase awareness throughout their jurisdictions. And so having that political will to actually change the environment within their jurisdictions is critical, and they're making an impact.
What is your approach and mechanism for providing support?
Kelly Larson: We at Bloomberg Philanthropies believe in the power of local organisations in driving policy, and also in local capacity to help in the work that we do. Our model is, for the 15 countries that are in our initiative, we have identified 10 international organisations that have expertise in specific areas, whether it be police enforcement, data strengthening, infrastructure redesign, communications, or advocacy. We work with international organisations to provide the support to our local teams, national agencies and city agencies to ensure that they're following best practice. We know what works to save lives when it comes to road safety, and we're ensuring that cities are aware of what is required and that the government understands the importance of strengthening their road safety laws and ensuring that they meet best practices. And so for our initiative, we're focusing on speed management. Bangladesh is already making progress in helmets, seat belts, and drinking and driving. Bangladesh is also looking at helmet use and standardised helmets. The leaders in Bangladesh are paying attention to what is required for better and stronger roads and safety on the roads of Bangladesh.
Prothom Alo :
What are the future plans for Bangladesh?
Kelly Larson: We've been supporting road safety for the last five and a half years here in Bangladesh. We have built capacity. We are now in the process of assessing where each country is within the initiative and where the opportunities lie to make a decision on the type of support that we would provide beyond 2025. We haven't made any decisions as of yet, but we're encouraged by the work that is being undertaken here in Bangladesh.
Our partners and I are talking about what more is needed in Bangladesh and what can be accomplished. We don't know yet. Once an investment phase is over, we take the outcomes to the leadership and determine what that support could look like beyond 2025, and we're still in the middle of that process. Lievanta (from Bloomberg Philanthropies) and I and our partners are talking about what more is needed in Bangladesh and what can be accomplished.
Prothom Alo :
There is a new government, a new administration in the US. The Trump administration has shut down all USAID programmes. How do you think this decision will impact the world, particularly the developing countries, not just in terms of road safety but also health?
Kelly Larson: Bloomberg Philanthropies recognises it's a very challenging time in public health, given some of the recent reductions of aid to organisations around the world. This will have an impact on public health because aid is not flowing as it has in the past, but at Bloomberg Philanthropies, we are fully committed to the work that we are supporting across all of our programme areas. For our public health programmes, we continue to stand firm in our commitment to addressing public health issues like communicable diseases and injuries, which account for 8 out of 10 deaths globally.
Some of your partners like icddr,b are dependent on the US and a lot of support to them has already been cut off.
Kelly Larson: We recognise the decisions of the Trump administration. We don't have any control over that. What we are working to do is identify opportunities that we can use our resources to support. We've worked with icddr,b on drowning prevention. They were one of our partners back in 2012. So we're definitely monitoring the situation, but standing firm and steady in our support for the programmes that we started here in Bangladesh and around the globe.
Prothom Alo :
Thank you very much.
Kelly Larson: Thank you too.