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Xin chao and good morning.
It is wonderful to join you today for this important workshop, and I would like to thank our government counterparts and all partners for your strong commitment to improving road safety in Viet Nam.
The universal helmet law introduced in 2007 remains one of the country’s most successful public health and road safety interventions. It dramatically increased helmet-wearing rates almost overnight, and since then has prevented thousands of deaths and serious injuries. Many countries still look to Viet Nam as a global example of how strong legislation, enforcement, and public communication can save lives.
But while helmet use is high, helmet quality – and the protection provided to children – is still a challenge. Evidence shows that many helmets sold in the market do not meet national technical regulations. Counterfeit and substandard – i.e. fake – helmets continue to circulate widely.
These products may give the appearance of compliance, but fail to provide real protection. And on Viet Nam’s roads, with over 11,000 deaths each year and thousands more people suffering life-altering injuries, quality can be the difference between life or death.
As Greig Craft often says – if most of the medicines available in Viet Nam were fake, there would be community outrage, and rightly so – because of the harm that fake medicines can cause. The same is true for helmets. Fake helmets are harmful – because they give the promise of protection when in fact they provide none. So in the same way we do not accept fake medicines, we should not accept fake helmets.
Children, in particular, need and deserve strong protection. Every year, around 2,000 children and young people die on Viet Nam’s roads, making road traffic injury one of the leading causes of death for those aged 5 to 29. Children are not just small adults. Children’s developing bodies, smaller head size, and lower impact tolerance mean they require helmets specifically designed and rigorously tested for their safety.
So, clearly we need to work towards stronger helmet standards for child motorcycle helmets. Our suggestion would be to start with improvements to the existing national standard and its provisions regarding smaller helmets, while in parallel working towards development and adoption of a comprehensive child-specific standard.
A national standard would provide the clear technical foundation for manufacturers, for certification bodies, for inspectors, and for enforcement agencies. It would ensure that when parents purchase a helmet labelled “for children,” they can trust that it will truly protect them. Every child on every motorcycle journey deserves that level of safety.
And of course, any standard needs to be supported by strong enforcement, as well as awareness raising – in particular among parents and caregivers in the case of child helmets.
So we’re excited to have you all in this room together today, to discuss how we can concretely move this agenda forward. The work we will do together today is very technical – but please don’t lose sight of its purpose, and very real human impact. Quality helmets reduce the risk of death by up to six times and reduce the risk of brain injury by as much as 74%. These are not small numbers; these are life-changing—life-saving—differences.
Over the past year, under the Viet Nam Project 2000 road safety partnership, WHO has been honoured to work with government and partners on strengthening helmet safety. In October 2025, we convened the first workshop on “Safe Heads, Strong Future,” which identified key gaps and opportunities. In December 2025, a second workshop examined the specific challenges of substandard helmets and the need for strengthened standards and market surveillance.
Today, we build on that momentum. I urge all of you to work together over the next couple of hours, to make sure we leave this meeting today with crystal clear, agreed, and CONCRETE next steps.
Viet Nam has already shown what is possible through decisive action on helmets. Now we have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to take the next big step, to ensure we build on the gains of the past, and support Viet Nam to create a future where every person is safe on the roads.
Xin cảm ơn quý vị and thank you very much.