School Visit: Road Safety at Newton British Academy
Dr. Sohaila Cheema, Assistant Professor of Healthcare Policy and Research and Director of the Institute for Population Health (IPH) and Dr. Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy, Assistant Director, IPH visited Newton British Academy, Barwa City, in November 2019. They spoke to 550 primary and secondary school students about the importance of road safety. Topics included the wearing of seatbelts – which is compulsory in many countries and are proven to save lives – the importance of adherence to speed limits and the dangers of speeding, and using mobile telephones while driving.
School Visit: How to be 'Safe Road Users'
Dr. Sohaila Cheema and Ms. Raji Anand promoted road safety at Newton British Academy on November 26, 2017. Two interactive sessions focusing on safe road behaviors for students aged 7-9 (400 students) and aged 10-11 (250 students) were conducted.
IPH promoted road safety at Pearling Season International School of Doha on December 11, 2017. Dr. Sohaila Cheema, director of IPH, conducted interactive sessions focusing on healthy road behaviors for students aged 3-7 (178 students) and aged 8–11 (161 students).
School Visit: Empowering Parents about Road Safety
Dr. Sohaila Cheema promoted road safety to parents of students at Perfection International Pre-school with a focus on compliance with seat belt and car restraint use and how to avoid aggressive behavior on the roads.
32nd GCC Traffic Week, Darb Al Saai, 2016
IPH participated in the 32nd GCC Traffic Week in March 2016, an event organized by the Ministry of Interior, Qatar. Dr. Sohaila Cheema, Dr. Hekmat Alrouh and Ms. Raji Anand engaged with several hundred primary and secondary school students to teach them about evidence-based best practices in road safety, risk factors for road traffic injury and appropriate road behavior. Using videos and interactive question and answer sessions, Dr. Cheema and Dr. Alrouh, talked about the importance of seat belts, why mobile phones should not be used while driving, and speeding among other topics. The aim of the interactive sessions was that as children grow older and begin to drive themselves, they will remember the lessons they have learned. In addition, they will pass those lessons on to their families and friends, hopefully discouraging dangerous and anti-social driving among others.
Qatar Chemical (QChem) Company Plant and Corporate Office Visit, 2015
Dr. Sohaila Cheema was invited to deliver road safety seminars to QChem employees at their Mesaieed Industrial City facility and West Bay office in November 2015. Dr. Cheema spoke about road behavior, its effect on health and the road traffic injury burden in Qatar and globally. The Qatar National Road Safety Strategy 2013 – 2022 and current efforts for road safety improvement in Qatar were also highlighted during the talks. Custom-made videos on risk factors for road traffic injuries and tips to avoid aggressive driving delivered key messages effectively. Employees appreciated the sessions saying that the statistics on road traffic injuries were an eye opener and simple steps taken at the individual level can also go a long way in preventing these avoidable events happening on the roads every day. More than 150 employees benefited from these sessions.
Medicine Unlimited and WCM-Q Health & Wellness Fair, 2014
IPH organized a road safety booth at the WCM-Q Wellness Day and Medicine Unlimited 2014 events at WCM-Q. At the Wellness Day event, IPH promoted road safety with computerized driving simulations, a road safety awareness quiz and by encouraging attendees to sign a pledge to become an advocate for road safety. Several hundred students attended the Medicine Unlimited event from Qatar schools along with their families. Students took online driving simulations and a road safety trivia quiz and were encouraged to become advocates for road safety by respecting the rules of the road and creating a safe road environment for all road users.
