First Aid should be made mandatory in our Kenya primary school curriculum

1. CONSEPT PAPER ON THE APPLICABILITY OF FIRST AID AND ROAD SAFETY IN
THE KENYA’S PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM.
PRESENTED BY: AMB STEVE MBUGUA –HEALTH AND SAFETY & ROADSAFETY
AMBASSADOR.
This presentation was designed from my personal experience as a volunteer emergency
responder with the Kenya Redcross and St John Ambulance for more than 12 years(from 2004)
and also certified first aid trainer having trained more than 10,000 first aiders and road safety
volunteers in Kenya. 85% of all the people I train wishes they got this knowledge earlier in
life(in primary school) as they had encountered a number of incidents in life and did not have an
idea on what to do to the sick/ill or injured. Thus the presentation is designed on personal
experience, basic facts and good practices.
Today, in the world, there is one road fatality every 30 seconds and more than 50 per cent of
deaths from traffic accidents occur in the first few minutes after the crash. Yet much of this loss
of life is preventable. First Aid training educates citizens on accident and injury prevention, and
gives them the skills to respond immediately to both major or minor emergencies. This
presentation is to request other safety stakeholders to join my campaign asking for legislative
provisions to make First Aid training compulsory for every Kenyan pupil. They should also
endorse my statement that "it is also essential to introduce First Aid training at all stages of a
person's life - at home, in school, at the workplace. First Aid training should be accessible to
everyone, not just to those who can afford it." First Aid saves lives. It is for everyone,
everywhere.
Recognizing the problem
Public awareness of death and injury on the roads in the world is quite a recent phenomenon and
is due partly to the publication in 2004 of the World report on road traffic injury prevention
, produced jointly by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO).
This report, which was translated into six languages, gives an idea of the scale of the crisis and
proposes practical recommendations based on current knowledge about what works.
Three thousand people, including 500 children, are killed every day on the world’s roads. More
than eight out of ten deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. This amounts to 1.2

2. million deaths a year. In addition, more than 50 million people are seriously injured; many are
disabled for life. It is also worth noting that these figures, as shocking as they are, are an
underestimate of the real scale of the problem. Due to underreporting and insufficient data
collection, many low- and middle-income countries do not know exactly how many of their
citizens die or are injured in road crashes annually.
Alarming trends
The World report indicates that the number of road crash fatalities will increase
worldwide by 60 per cent by 2020. Although they will continue to fall by 20 per
cent in high-income countries, they are likely to grow by 80 per cent in low- and
middle-income countries unless targeted steps are taken immediately. Road crashes already kill
as many people annually as major pandemics such as malaria or tuberculosis. They are the first
cause of mortality among men and women aged between ten and 45, except in the countries
worst affected by HIV/AIDS. In Kenya, the NTSA accident data portrays an alarming trend. This
comparison illustrates the gravity of the problem and the urgency to take decisive action.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF DIFFERENT ORGANISATIONS
IN TACKLING ROAD SAFETY
The most important groups who can be mobilised and who have a role to play in reducing road
crashes are:
1. Government and the Public Sector can:
·Provide leadership and a framework for the development and implementation of
effective road safety policies.
·Provide high standards of accountability in meeting road safety objectives and to ensure
the effective use of resources.

3. ·Provide funds for road safety programmes that maximise benefits.
2. Local and Regional/County Governments can:
·Take a leading role in coordinating the road safety effort of all relevant agencies and
community groups within their particular administrative area. These activities should be
consistent with the National Road Safety Plan, and coordinate activity across all
relevant agencies in that geographic area.
·Ensure that planning of local facilities and residential areas effectively takes account of
the road safety needs of the community.
·Where possible, fund and implement road safety programmes and initiatives.
·Ensure effective policies for the control and enforcement of liquor laws.
3. Communities and Cultural or Ethnic Organisations can:
·Provide support and leadership for road safety campaigns and initiatives.
·Demonstrate a concern for the number of road deaths occurring and a commitment to
foster improvements.
·Persuade various communities to accept a greater participatory role in road safety
improvements.
·Work with other organisations in providing road safety education/publicity and other
road safety programmes.
4. Education Sector can:
·Make a formal commitment to promote effective road safety education in schools and
pre-schools so that appropriate behaviour is fostered from early age.

4. ·Develop links between schools and other agencies, such as the Ministry Of Transport,
NITA,Ministry Of Health and police, in relation to road safety.
·Assist in the life-long education of road users.
5. Media can:
·Enhance community awareness and understanding of the causal factors and real costs of
road crashes.
·Support road safety initiatives through responsible and objective reporting.
·Influence societal changes which lead to a reduction in unacceptable driver behaviour
and poor attitudes.
6. Police and Enforcement Agencies can:
·Improve road user behaviour and vehicle standards through a balance of education,
encouragement and effective enforcement strategies.
·Maximise enforcement effectiveness using proven enforcement systems and technology.
·Maintain a high level of expertise in crash/casualty reporting.
·Focus on high-risk behaviours and use casualty and crash data to identify locations and
where police enforcement could minimise such unsafe behaviours.
7. Health Agencies and Professionals can:
·Ensure development of effective emergency medical/services.
·Advise patients on their fitness to use the road, including the effects of prescribed drugs
and medication on road user performance.
·Provide feedback from injury assessment to improve vehicle occupant protection and

5. road safety policy.
·Provide health promotion road safety programmes.
·Liaise with other practitioners in the road safety field to avoid duplication of effort.
8. Transport and Land-Use Planners can:
·Adopt effective and safe traffic management measures in planning transport and land-use
developments.
·Pay particular attention to the safety requirements of people with disabilities, older
people, children, pedestrians, bicycle riders and other non -motorised road users in the
planning task.
9. Road Engineers and Highway Authorities can:
·Improve the safety performance of the road network by ensuring that planning, design,
construction and maintenance places a high priority on safety outcomes.
·Apply crash reduction and crash prevention techniques to create safer road networks for
the future.
·Review and safety audit existing, rehabilitated and new roads to eliminate unnecessary
hazardous locations and misleading/absent markings.
10. Insurance Industry can:
·Assist in the development, sponsorship and funding of crash prevention programmes.
·Provide premium incentives as a means of encouraging and rewarding safer behaviour.
· Provide feedback to government and regenerative crash trends and outcomes to assist in
the further development of road safety policy.

6. 11. Alcohol and Hospitality Entertainment Industry
·Adopt responsible standards of alcohol serving and host responsibility programmes,
especially for young adults.
·Assist patrons in monitoring alcohol consumption, for example, through the use of coin-
operated breath testers and better labeling of alcoholic content of beverages.
·Promote the consumption of low-alcohol beverages in preference to higher proof drinks.
·Advertise and promote alcohol responsibility.
12. Vehicle Manufacturers and Importers can:
·Improve crashworthiness features of vehicles including enhanced occupant protection
·Progressively introduce in-vehicle crash avoidance technology.
·Adopt an advertising code which promotes the safety features and safety performance of
vehicles and their responsible use.
·Discontinue importation of crashed vehicles. Such crashed vehicles must be
repaired/restored in the originating country before being imported into Kenya.
·Only vehicles under five years old to be imported and all vehicles to undergo a
mandatory vehicle roadworthiness inspection before being permitted to use Kenya roads.
13. Heavy Vehicle Transport Industry can:
·Adopt responsible freight forwarding and driving schedules which permit adequate rest
breaks and promote driver safety.
·Prevent the abuse of alcohol and drug stimulants and promote healthy lifestyle habits
amongst drivers.

7. ·Ensure high standards of vehicle, mechanical safety, and load stability and security.
·Enhance industry professionalism and safety through improved fleet management.
14. Driver Training Providers can:
·Require all learner vehicles to display signs.
·Equip learner and novice drivers with the necessary skills, attitudes and behaviour
needed to drive safely on our roads.
·Maintain and foster a high standard of driver training, instruction and professionalism.
·Promote and foster the upgrading of driving skills amongst drivers, particularly drivers
of heavy and public service vehicles.
·Establish an Association and enhance industry professionalism by developing a Code of
Providers teaching materials, Driving Instructors training programmes, etc., for their
members.
15. Motoring Associations can:
·Promote road safety amongst their memberships by providing up-to-date and relevant
information on traffic laws, safe driver behaviour and techniques, road conditions,
maintenance procedures and vehicle safety.
·Support, promote and sponsor effective road safety initiatives and campaigns.
·Provide membership feedback to government and industry on road safety policy and new
initiatives.
16. Advertisers can:
·Discourage advertising which glamorises and/or promotes unsafe practices and products.

8. ·Actively encourage safer practices and products.
17. Researchers/Universities can:
·Ensure that there is a balance between research on basic and applied topics.
·Ensure that road safety research is of high quality, timely and that its implications are
identified and promoted.
·Ensure the development of high quality databases.
·Evaluate effectiveness of measures implemented to ensure cost effective expenditure.
·Provide reliable research results and knowledge against which policy decisions can be
made.
18. All Organisation can:
·Develop internal safety policies for their staff including host responsibility.
·Promote safe practices in fleet operation.
·Larger fleet operators can encourage staff to participate in defensive driving courses, and
where feasible, sponsor or buy in defensive driving courses for own staff at own premises.
19. Individual Road Users can:
·Attain a greater understanding, awareness, and practice of safe behaviour and skills.
·Make a personal commitment to improve road safety by adopting more courteous and
considerate road behaviour and demonstrating care for the safety of others.

9. CONCLUSION
Delivery of effective first aid is one of the activities of the management of the casualty
which is a crucial determinant of the severity of injury eventually received and the
chance of survival of the casualties. We all have the power to change this loss of lives caused by
lack of basic first aid skills.
Indisputable findings [show] that pre-hospital deaths from injury are not inevitable and that at
least some can be prevented by simple first aid measures
My argument here is clear: many pre-hospital deaths may be preventable and injuries may have
less long-term impact if casualties could be treated immediately by non-medical people who had
basic first aid knowledge.
Over half of all road accident deaths occur within the first few minutes at the scene, and over
20% during transfer to hospital or within the same day of the accident, these figures obviously
argue for greater knowledge of first aid among all road users. This is an area that should be
included in our school curriculum and be made mandatory for all Kenyans to go through a first
aid and road safety training.
RECOMMENDATION
1. First Aid and Road safety knowledge should be made mandatory in our Kenya
primary school curriculum. These are life saving skills that would be the difference
between life saved and life lost.
“If you are not safety conscious, you may become unconscious. Safety starts with me, you, all
of us”