Road Traffic Surviellance System

E UNIVERSITY MAKERERE MAKERER FACULTY OF ARTS HISTORY DEPARTMENT COURSE: COURSE UNIT:

DE VELOPMENT STUDIES POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

DATE: 28TH MARCH 2009 NAMES: 1. NATTIBE PHIONA 06/U/8134/EVE 2. L.MUWONGE STEPHANO 06/U/8064/EVE 3. NAMAZZI MADIINAH 06/U/7596/EVE 4. NKUNZIRE ANNE 05/U/15476/EVE 5. NAGAWA DAPHINE 06/U/8110/EVE 6. MBAWADDE ROSETTE 06/U/7593/PS NANTONGO SALMAH 06/U/8130/EVE 7. 8. NAMUKISA AGNES 06/U/8125/EVE NAZZIWA ESTHER 06/U/8136/EVE 9. 10. BIIRA JULIA 06/U/8087/EVE 11. NALUNGA AGNES 06/U/8121/EVE 12. BABIRYE JULIAN 06/U/8171/EVE 13. SSENYIMBA DEO 06/U/8066/EVE

QUESTIO N;

Develop a surviella nce system for ministry of works and transport to monitor road traffic injury

This paper describes the development of a pilot study to test the implementation of A road injury surveilla nce system for intentiona l and non-intentiona l Injuries , for the ministry of works and transport. Currently the ministry has no such system . the monitoring of road fatalities will help the ministry on appropriate road designing to reduce on accidents. By definition, a surveillance system systematica lly collects, reviews, and evaluates information to understa nd the context in which specific injuries occur. Available records from hospitals and police monthly reports provide an opportunity to gather reliable data on injuries and accidents whose cause can be to tressed from the current state of roads. The ministry of works and transport. The Government of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Works and Transport (MOW&T) is among others, ma ndated to promote adequate, safe and well ma inta ined transport infrastructure and services in the form of road, rail, water and air. The Mandate of the Ministry is to: Plan, develop and ma inta in an economic, efficient and effective transport infrastructure; Plan, develop and ma inta in an economic, efficient and effective transport services by road, rail, water, and air; Manage public works including Government Structures; and Promote standards in the construction industry. Mission The Mission of the Ministry is “to promote an adequate, safe and well ma inta ined public works and transport infrastructure and services so as to effectively contribute to the socio-economic development of the country”. Vision The Sector’s Vision is “to have a reliable and safe infrastructure in public works and transport that will deliver timely, quality, cost effective and susta inable services to the people of Uganda The Government of the Republic of Uganda has therefore set a-side funds towards the cost of detailed design of 5 brid ges: Ngite, Nduguto, Mirambi, Kisege and Wassa in Bundibugyo District and intends to apply a portion of these funds toward eligible payments under the contract.

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Background of road traffic injuries. According to Ministry of Works and Transport statistics, in 2006 there were 18,092 reported accidents with 1,792 fatalities and 12,158 injuries compared to 1,438 fatalities and 12,946 injuries reported in 2000. In Kampala, between 2000 and 2006, there were 66,498 accidents reported with 2,059 fatalities, 18,819 serious injuries and 45,620 minor injuries.Accord ing to Ministry of Health records at least 2,000 people die while 1,200 are admitted annually in hospitals countrywide due to road accidents. (Death, pain on Uganda’s roads , by Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa & Andrew Bagala Thursday, March 26, 2009 sunday monitor) In Uganda, hospital-based studies showed pedestria ns as the most frequent traffic casua lties (43.5%), followed by vehicle occupants (31.9%). Hospital-based trauma registries in two hospitals also showed pedestria ns as the lead ing categor y of road users (45.8%) presenting with serious traffic injuries as assessed using the Kampala Trauma Score . Objectives of the surviellance system.  To detect trends ,signa ls on road traffic injuries and accidents.  To provided information necessary for improving on road designing.  To privide information which will help to prevent and reduce on road injuries  Estmate future road road traffic related problems.  Collect cases for future studies. Types of surviellance used. According to nature of the surviella nce it would require the investigator to apply both active and passive techniques in various areas ,during data colllection as some information might be lack ing in a particular area or source at a give time. Therefore both passive and active were used.

Passive surveillance is the most common form of surveilla nce and relies on standardized reporting forms or cards provided, use of questioniares, observation studying previously prepared reports and do not invlove field interviews with respondents Passive reporting systems are genera lly less costly tha n other reporting systems, data collection is not burdensome , and the data ma y be used to identify trends of cases. Limitations include non-repor ting or under-reporting, which can affect representativeness of the data and thus lead to undetected trends and undetected cause of the problem.

Active surveillance involves outreach by the public authority, such as regular telephone calls or visits, preparing interviews. Because it places intensive dema nds on resources, implementation of active surveilla nce should be limited to brief or sequential periods of time and for specific purposes.

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Sources of data to support the system. Among the important sources include 

The people in the loca l community since they are the daily road users exposed to road traffic injuries

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The hospital emer gency records which will provide admitted cases of road traffic injuries and fatalies

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The monthly police reports on the road traffic accidents

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Obersavation of the nature and condition of roads

Surveillance system The prelimina ry or formative evaluation is led by a principle investigator. As a preparator y stage he must help his team understa nd the Administration and super vision of the surveilla nce system, and Establish the minimum huma n resource that will be required. Each investigator should be a signed a particular area with a Network of roads to study the injury cases in comparison with the state of the road network. Such organiza tion would help the team organize logica lly and prepare for data collection in a specific period of time Studying and observation of traffic flow along particular roads with consta nt flow of users both pedestria ns and vehicle is important. This will help the researcher understa nd, study the behaviors and character of different road users along particular sections of the road, the state of the road, and the size of stretch. This exercise particularly targeted spots which are common with Accident A pre-coded injury surveilla nce. Questionnaire designed in a simple way to meet ;the required needs will be fielded the questionnaire allows researchers to obtain a detailed profile of injury, the context in which it occurred, the place, activity, and mecha nism of the injury it also includes information about the aggressors. The other source of valuable information are the hospital emer gency records and the police monthly reports which provide information on victims of road traffic injuries and the common spots along particular highway which are seriously affected. Interviews are vital part of investigation especia lly were there are no available records. As part of the study we retrospectively collected data on 100 cases of road users in a period of 6 month, the cases were selected at random.We describe completeness and quality of data using relative frequencies of missing or unknown for selected variables in the surveilla nce Questionnaire. At the end of the specified period we will undertake a comparative analysis of the injury surveilla nce data .

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Research methods The research methods were chosen basing on the identified sources for information for example: 1. Questionnaires were fielded to collect data which is specific according to the objectives of the study. 2. Observation is an important technique when studying and recording data on Nature and condition of roads. 3. Interview with some of the knowledgeable people in the area of study for example police officers and med ical personnel. 4. Also data was collected from prepared reports and records of the police and hospitals on road traffic injuries.

Ethic principles The following are important principles for the success of the system. 1. Permission should be obtained from the releva nt Authorities 2. Consent of the respondent before interview should be ensured 3. The researcher or team members to conduct the surveilla nce should have the following values 4. Honest that is truthfully while caring out their assigned duties and responsibilities 5. Reliable, Examporary, objective committed, accountable. How the system will solve the problem The system will help identify key areas of weakness in the road network, identify dangerous and deadly spots. The system will also help address policy problems and weakness, concer ning road safety in order to reduce the incidence of road traffic injured Timely information will be available to help high lighten the agency of the road traffic fatalities The information generated will help Engineers rethink and come up with Appropriate road designs which will help to reduce the risk of injuries for road users. Attributes of a good surveillance system Simplicity this refers both to the structure and Ease of operation it should be simple as possible while still meeting their objective. It should be complex able to meet various needs and provide answers. Flexibility that is it can adopt to changing information needs or operating conditions with little additiona l time. Data Quality reflects the completeness and valid ity of data recorded.

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Acceptability it should reflect the willingness of persons and organiza tions to participate in the surveilla nce system. Sensitivity the ability to detect a problem including the ability to monitor changes. Predictive the ability to determine possible outcome Representativeness the selected case when studied should provide or reflect the reality on the ground and include all sections of the society in terms of sex, religion etc Timeliness this reflect the ability of the system to provide information when needed Stability this refers to reliability the ability to collect, ma nage and provide data properly without failure. Assessment of surveillance team. Assessment can be carried out in the following way. Comparing of collected and organized field reports Deter mining whatever the set objectives have become archived required data has been collected Conduct pilot study for purpose of comparison. Data should be analyzed to determine whether it provides solutions. Evaluation Data should be categor ized in a representative ma nner for example age, sex.Use Quantitative methods. Tabulation of data and use of statistica l dia grames. Discussion To construct a bala nced and reliable description of the system, multiple sources of information might be needed. The description of the system can be improved by consulting with a variety of persons involved with the system and by checking reported descriptions of the system against direct observation Assess intergration The evaluation should assess how well the surveilla nce system is integrated with other surveilla nce and information systems (e.g., data excha nge and sharing in multiple formats, and transformation of data). Streamlining related systems into an integrated surveilla nce network enables individ ual systems to meet specific data collection needs while avoid ing the duplica tion of effort and lack of standardization that can arise from independent systems A more formal economic evaluation of the system (i.e., judging costs relative to benefits) could be included with the resource description. Estima ting the effect of the system on decision making, prevention, education, of road related fatalies

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Importance of the surviellance system Analysis of the detailed information ma y permit researchers to generate evidence-based recommendations. Addressed to public authorities, and health authorities in particular, they can help address injury incidence in their communities from tressed from the sorry state of roads. the viability of surveilla nce system for road traffic injuries that collects information at emer gency departments in selected hospitals in the country and police reports on accidents acrosss the country. We hope to demonstrate that it is possible to implement a susta inable injury surveilla nce system in the country with limited resources. Our system provides an opportunity to gather reliable data on injuries that permit comparisons between road transport and other mea n like water comparable injury surveillance data. Analyses will generate evidence-based recommendations to nationa l, loca l gover nment authorities and nationa l road development authourity that wish to address the incidence of injury and the sorry state of roads in their communities . the ecological model will help to understa nd the causes, consequences, and prevention of road fatalities . The model suggests that interaction of severa l factors makes particular segments of the population at greater risk of road injury. A susta ined injury surveilla nce system creates a scientific base to describe and have a comparative study of the problem – where and who is affected in the communities served by the existing road network. Maintaining a surveilla nce system will rapid ly aid the development of preventive intervention strategies. For authorities to make policy recommendations about the control and prevention of injuries Conclusion. The currect road traffic related problems which have resulted in death of thousa nds can be addressed ,only if the ministry of works and transport establish a surviella nce system to help pla nners identify keys areas of weakenness in the road network and design appropriate solutions for them.otherwise road injuries on ugandas roads are bound to increase with the current increase in the number of road users ,yet little effort has been invested in applica tion of morder n and efficient road design

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References World Health Organization Geneva(2004)Wor ld report onroad traffic injury prevention Death, pain on Uganda’s roads , by Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa & Andrew Bagala Thursday, March 26, 2009 sunday monitor www.monitor.co.ug. Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development(2007)Road Sector Development Programme Coordination Unit (RSDP-CU), sensitisa tion Workshop on the Uganda Road Fund Bill for Members of Parlia ment of the Republic of Uganda Wilson odero (November 2004) Road traffic injury reseach in africa Www.globa lforumhea lth.or g/forum8.

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