As ministers and road safety leaders gathered for the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Morocco in February 2025, WHO and the World Bank-hosted Global Road Safety Facility convened more than 100 participants from 80 countries for a meeting of the Global Network of Heads of National Road Safety Agencies on February 17 in Marrakech.
The WHO-initiated Global Network assists government-led efforts to establish and advance national road safety strategies to achieve the goal of halving road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030, as set out in the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Read the meeting report here.
Opening remarks were given by a range of global road safety leaders, including Abdessamad Kayouh, Minister of Transport and Logistics, Morocco, Juan Carlos Munoz, Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Chile as well as Dr Etienne Krug, WHO, Nicolas Peltier-Thiberge, World Bank, Said Dahdah, World Bank, and Nneka Henry, UN Road Safety Fund.
At the heart of the meeting were group discussions on four key themes:
- Assessing country progress and challenges in achieving global road safety targets.
- Enhancing the role of lead agencies in coordinating national road safety efforts.
- Harnessing innovative technology to improve road safety.
- Defining the future scope and activities of the Global Network.
Participants engaged in multiple discussion rounds, rotating between thematic tables to exchange insights, share best practices, and explore solutions for overcoming institutional, financial, and technical barriers that often come in the way of the effective delivery of road safety.
Looking ahead, the Network will further strengthen cooperation among its members and deepen its role in influencing global public policy processes. It will help ensure coordinated efforts between the global, regional, and national levels, create stronger alignment across different initiatives and improve the effectiveness of road safety strategies. A key strategic priority will be to raise awareness of road safety as a major development challenge and to advocate for increased resource mobilization,