Kester Korankye, Kwame Boateng and Debrah win WHO road safety contest

Winners for the World Health Organisation (WHO) Road Safety Reporting Contest in Ghana have been announced.

The contest was part of a WHO and International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) programme designed to increase the quality and quantity of news coverage on key road safety issues in 15 countries that were covered by the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety.

Three winners, each from six countries with high numbers of deaths were selected.

The countries selected were Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, India, and Uganda.

In Ghana, Seth Kwame Boateng from JoyNews with his documentary dubbed, “Crushed Young: Child fatalities due to road accidents”, which, examined the toll road accidents have on children in Ghana came first.

Emmnuel Kwasi Debrah from Myjoyonline with the article, “When the truck is long: Ghana’s outdated roads” placed second.

A staff writer with the Daily Graphic, a subsidiary of the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Kester Aburam Korankye, placed third with the “Attaining efficient public transport system: Has BRT collapsed?”

The first-placed winners will receive a prize of US$1,500, the second-placed, US$1,000, and the third-place, US$500.

Background

Over 1.3 million people die in road traffic crashes every year, with more than nine in ten deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries, WHO data shows.

Road traffic injuries are the biggest killer of children and young people globally and up to 50 million people are injured in road accidents every year.