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On September 17, 2018, leadership and faculty from the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) will travel to Brazil to participate in critical road safety meetings with local policymakers and academic collaborators.

Director Dr. Abdul Bachani, PhD, and Assistant Scientist Dr. Andres Vecino-Ortiz, MD, PhD, will represent JH-IIRU as they visit both Sao Paulo and Fortaleza to promote existing work and discuss future opportunities.

On September 18, they’ll attend a press conference with the Secretary of Transport who will share highlights of the annual report, introducing data from the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).

The Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety is a five-year, $125 million effort aimed at reducing the burden of global traffic injuries and fatalities and focuses on nine low-and middle-income countries’ 10 cities, including both Sao Paulo and Fortaleza.

“We’re honored to be in attendance of this week’s meetings to highlight the life-saving work being implemented here in Brazil,” said Dr. Bachani. “To see the progress on the ground and recognize the great strides by our partners through this initiative, it’s been a real pleasure. And we’re grateful to be supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies to strengthen these proven interventions.”

Then, on September 20, the team will meet with University of Fortaleza officials to discuss future partnerships on research and training opportunities in road safety.

“This is a great opportunity for both institutions to find ways to strengthen our research and teaching collaboration network around the road safety field,” said Dr. Vecino-Ortiz. “Fortaleza is a city that has made outstanding progress improving road safety conditions. This partnership could also be an opportunity for Brazilians and citizen abroad to learn more about what catalyzed Fortaleza’s success.”

Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) Director Dr. Abdulgafoor M. Bachani traveled to Peoria, Arizona to celebrate the Michael Phelps Foundation’s (MPF) 10^th anniversary on Saturday, August 25^, 2018.

The event, held at the Peoria pool, featured Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps who spoke on behalf of the foundation and discussed drowning prevention and promoting healthy lifestyles for children. After the speech, local children participants received swim instruction from program educators on how to float, as well as proper stroke techniques.  JH-IIRU was one of several organizations in attendance for the event, along with Boys & Girls Club of America and Pool Safely.

Recently, Dr. Bachani and JH-IIRU faculty worked to evaluate MPF’s “im program,” which aims to provide program participants with skills to become comfortable in and around swimming pools. Unit research found that the program made swim training accessible to approximately 2,500 families that would otherwise be unable to participate and nearly 7,000 children were able to participate in formal swim training sessions for the first time to explore and enjoy the water.

“As we, too, celebrate ten years of research at the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, we’re so thrilled to be able to work with the Michael Phelps Foundation and applaud the team’s commitment to drowning prevention,” said Dr. Bachani. “We look forward to future partnership opportunities where we can join together to make a difference and save lives from this preventable risk factor.”

Outside of its work with MPF, JH-IIRU has initiated one of the largest implementation research studies on drowning on low- and middle-income countries with SOLID—Saving of children’s Lives from Drowning. Based in Bangladesh, the SOLID research project aims to reduce the shocking number of childhood deaths due to drownings.

This year marks a decade of innovation and research in global injury prevention and control for JH-IIRU and the Unit. Founded in 2008 by Dr. Adnan A. Hyder, JH-IIRU was established within the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of International Health to respond to the growing burden of injuries worldwide, where injuries cause more than five million deaths every year.

^{JH-IIRU Director Dr. Bachani and Michael Phelps joined together on August 25 to celebrate the Michael Phelps Foundation's 10th anniversary.}

Experts from the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) and the Global Road Safety Partnership will lead a two-week training course on road safety from July 22 to August 3, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The course, which will be offered to more than 60 participants from more than 20 countries across the globe, aims at building leadership capacity to design, advocate for, and implement effective road safety programs and policies. Course instructors, including JH-IIRU researchers, will lead sessions covering behavior change, advocacy, urban design, economics, and more.

“Our upcoming offering here in Baltimore is just the latest in a lifesaving course that’s reached hundreds of students from around the world,” said Professor Adnan Hyder, JH-IIRU director.

JH-IIRU Deputy Director Dr. Abdul Bachani said, “We’re appreciative of the support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and partnership with the Global Road Safety Partnership to continue this program of sessions that address road safety in low- and middle-income countries.”

At the conclusion of the first week of the course, participants will travel to New York to visit Bloomberg Philanthropies, where they’ll hear from Kelly Larson, director of the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), and learn more about data-driven solutions for road safety.

Throughout the 10-day course, participants will also work together in small groups to apply lessons learned and prepare for formal presentations during the final day of the program.

For more information on the course, please click here.

^{Participants and instructors join together during March's regional offering in Nairobi, Kenya.}

Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) scientists Drs. Qingfeng Li and Nino Paichadze conducted a workshop on advanced analytical methods for injury data on June 11 and 12, 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Held as a product of the Johns Hopkins University-Hanoi School of Public Health Trauma and Injury Research Program in Vietnam (JHU-Hanoi-TRIP), the sessions welcomed about 50 participants from Hanoi Preventive Medicine Center, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi School of Public Health (HUPH), among other institutions.

“This training workshop went quite well,” said JH-IIRU Associate Director Qingfeng Li, PhD, MHS. “Through our partnership with the Hanoi School of Public Health, we’ve been able to lead critical trauma and injury training sessions to passionate students and public health practitioners in Vietnam.”

Following opening remarks from Dr. Cuong Pham, director of the Center for Injury Policy and Prevention Research (CIPPR) at Hanoi University of Public Health, Dr. Li kicked off the training with a presentation on the principles of injury prevention before Dr. Paichadze held sessions on the risk factors for trauma and injuries, and data sources for trauma and injuries.

On the workshop’s second day, participants were engaged in group exercises to analyze sample injury data using statistical methods introduced by Dr. Li on day one. Each group made presentation on their work and received feedback from Dr. Li.

After the workshop Dr. Paichadze led a seminar on Information and communications technology (ICT) approaches for capacity building in public health.

JHU-Hanoi-TRIP spawned from a five-year grant on injury training in Vietnam from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant builds on existing collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and HUPH and addresses global injury barriers through a collaborative training program. The program’s overall goal is to strengthen research capacity on injury and trauma in Vietnam, as well as its long-term health, economic, and societal consequences through an innovative model of sustainable capacity development.

To learn more about the program and grant, please click here.

^{Instructors and participants join together for a picture at the conclusion of the workshop in Hanoi, Vietnam.}

On May 14, 2018, the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) hosted a panel of trauma and emergency care experts at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as part of its ongoing 10^th anniversary year. The event, “Trauma and Emergency Care across the Lifespan,” featured multidisciplinary trauma experts JH-IIRU associate director Amber Mehmood and senior technical advisor Junaid Razzak, as well as Safe Kids Worldwide founder Dr. Martin Eichelberger.

JH-IIRU director Adnan A. Hyder welcomed participants—watching both in-person and via a streaming webcast—to the event before deputy director Abdul M. Bachani introduced each panelist and facilitated discussion at the conclusion of each presentation.

Razzak led off the series of speakers with a presentation on emergency care in Pakistan. In his talk, he outlined the definition of an emergency care system and focused on Karachi, Pakistan—the third-largest city in the world.

Mehmood followed with a talk on trauma care in low-income countries and shared a case study on traumatic brain injury (TBI) across the lifespan in Uganda. She shared new results from a collaborative effort with JH-IIRU and Makerere University: a third of all patients presenting with TBI suffered a drop in the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), a critical indicator, during emergency department stay. This finding, Mehmood remarked, should lead to improved assessment and interventions.

Dr. Eichelberger, in the final presentation of the event, discussed pediatric trauma. From his work at Children’s National Medical Center and Safe Kids Worldwide, Dr. Eichelberger shared childhood injury statistics both domestically and globally.

In 2018, the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit is celebrating its first decade of innovation and research in global injury prevention and control. To honor the anniversary, JH-IIRU is hosting a number of special events throughout the year. To learn more about the Unit and its 10^th anniversary, please click here.

^{Dr. Martin Eichelberger presents on pediatric trauma during JH-IIRU’s 10th anniversary event, “Trauma and Emergency Care across the Lifespan,” at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on May 14, 2018.}