Sophie Paris Vietnam on Monday presented more than 200 helmets to students at Dong Ba Primary School in HCMC through the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation’s Helmets for Kids program to help promote road safety among local youngsters.
AIP Foundation has distributed helmets to almost 1,000 students at the primary school since 2008 under the program. This year, Sophie Paris Vietnam donated bright magenta helmets to the first graders, while older students received replacement helmets.
“Education, safety and development of future generations is a priority at Sophie Paris, and the Helmets for Kids program is a great way to ensure students become safer, smarter road users,” said Nick Jonsson, general director of Sophie Paris Vietnam.
Since 2000, AIP Foundation’s school-based Helmets for Kids has provided students with helmets and road safety education. Parents and teachers are also educated about the importance of helmet use and the need to encourage students to wear their helmets during their daily rides to school.
Mirjam Sidik, executive director of AIP Foundation said, “Our goal with the Helmets for Kids program is to effectively make the helmet a part of the school uniform.”
Helmets for Kids is a public-private partnership platform, through which private corporations sponsor schools and local authorities in partnership with AIP Foundations to implement programs. Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, vice chief of the HCMC Department of Traffic Safety Committee, quoted statistics from the National Traffic Safety Committee saying that traffic accidents caused 11,449 fatalities and 10,633 injuries last year.
“Most parents do not think about getting helmets for their children or encouraging them to wear helmets to prevent injuries,” Tuong said.
