Department of Public Health Sciences
Division of Social Medicine

Safe Community Monthly News
Issue 26

September 2009
In this issue

Dear Colleagues,

New Safe Community designation

1

Safe Community movement in Iran

2

Report from Belize

2Report from Thailand

2

Report from Taiwan

3

Report from Linfen, China

Course3344Forthcoming Conferences

4

Advice for ISC annual Reports

5

Report from Jinqiao Town, China
Article of interest

We are proud to introduce you another new Safe Community.
We have reports from Iran, Belize, Thailand, Taiwan and China.
Safe Communities movement is now its full pace!
All the designated Safe Communities are advised to submit their annual re‐ports.
News and reports of this issue are appended below. Same issue is also avail‐able at our WHO Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion
website: http://www.phs.ki.se/csp/who_newsletters_en.htm
With warm regards
Leif Svanström, Responsible Editor
Koustuv Dalal, Editor

Itasca Illinois—America’s Fifth International Safe Community
At an evening reception on April 23, 2009 Itasca, Illinois was designated as an International Safe Community. The fifthInternational Safe Community in the United States, the Village of Itasca is located in northwest suburban Chicago area. The
Village of Itasca is also headquarters of the National Safety Council, an Affiliate Support Centre of the Collaborating Centre
and the home of Safe Communities America. In this capacity as an Affiliate Support Centre, Safe Communities America
mentored the Village of Itasca as it navigated through the process of preparing and applying for designation.
As well as recognizing the citizens and organizations in the Village of Itasca Safe Community Coalition, this designation
was also a special event for Safe Communities Canada which, in its capacity as a Certifying Centre for the WHO
Collaborating Centre, oversaw its first complete International Designation process. ‐It also marked the first time in North
America that Accredited International Peer Reviewers—Debora Biggs from the United States, and Barry King from Canada‐‐
took the lead in the review process. This first exercise also helped both Safe Communities Canada and Safe Communities
America establish a formal protocol which will govern process for reviewing and designating International Safe
Communities in North America.
John Dalzell, the Chair of the Boardof Safe Communities Canada,
officially designated the Village ofItasca, Illinois on behalf of theWorld Health Organization
Collaborating Centre on
Community Safety Promotion.
During the ceremony, he paid
tribute to the dedication of thatgroup of citizens and organizations
in Itasca who have worked so hardto ensure the safety and well being
The Signatories of the Safe Communities Agreement
Signing the Safe Community Agreement
for Itasca, Illinois. (L to R): John Dalzell, Safe Comm‐is Claudia Gruber, the Village President of of every citizen in their community‐
unities Canada, Jeff Pruyn, Village President Elect,‐ a dedication which, he pointed
Itasca. On her right, is John Dalzell.
Itasca, Claudia Gruber, Village President, Itasca, Mary‐ Waiting to sign :out, typifies and unites Safe
Fran Leno, Co‐chair Itasca Safe Community Coalition,
Jeff Pruyn, Mary‐Fran Leno, and Scott
Communities around the world,
Chief Scott Heher, Co‐Chair, Itasca Safe Community
Heher.
and which designation ceremonies
Coalition
like this one recognize and salute.
Reporter: Ron Waldie, Canada.

Rapid movement in Iran in increasing Safe Communities
During the past two years 4 cities have been designated as Safe Communities in Iran and three other cities are supposed to be
designated before 2010. The last Safe Community in Iran was district 22 in Tehran which was designate in April 27. A delega‐tion from WHO CC has been participated in the designation ceremony. During the days after the ceremony, four other cities
were visited by the group: Fariman and Khalilabad in Khorasan Province, Shiraz and Neyriz in Fars Province.
The site visit in Fariman was done by Dr. Mohammadi, Dr. Zandra Feltens and Dr. Therese Lundberg. Mrs. Rafie from the Min‐
istry of Health and Medical Education was accompanying the delegation. It was the second site visit in Fariman during past two
years. People in Fariman were very successful to show a remarkable work during the Safe Community meeting while they have
involved different organizations and groups in their movement. The delegation had a chance to raise related questions and dis‐cuss the facilitators and barriers regarding the safety interventions in the meeting.
Governor, Mayor, Religious leader and the heads of all organizations in the city have participated in the session. There was andesignated in 2007 and Bardscan in 2008. Khalilabad has also shown a exhibition presenting all safety interventions and activi‐
ties within the city during past five years. The delegation has found that Fariman is ready to be designated as the next Safe
Community.
At the same time of Farimansite visit, Dr. Bo Henricson has
visited Khalilabad. Kahlilabad
is a new city located between
two former designated safe
communities: Kashmar andBardscan. Kashmar was
designated in 2007 and Bardscan in 2008. Khalilabad has also shown a very impressive work during the site visit. The delegation has
found Khalilabad ready for designation in the next coming event in Iran.
The group has travelled from Khorasan to Fras for the next site visits. Shiraz was visited as a city under preparation for designa‐
tion. Dr. Medhati who is in charge of Safe Community activities in the province, presented a comprehensive report of the move‐
ment in all cities in the province. Arsanjan was the first city in the province which was designated in 2008, however many other
cities are preparing themselves to be designated in the future. Finally, Neyriz was visited as the third city which is ready fordesignation. Neyriz is located 180 Kilometre far from Shiraz. Dr. Bo Henricson and Dr. Reza Mohammadi have participated in
the Safe Community meeting and also visited the safecom. exhibition in the city. The meeting was very successful in showing
the engagement of different sectors in the safety interventions. They could also present an interesting report about their safety
activities in the city during past five years. After the site visit, the impression of delegation was very positive while they foundthat Neyriz is also ready for designation in the coming event in Iran.
Reporter: Reza Mohammadi

Belize in Central America- in need of a Safe Community programme?

In a meeting at the PAHO/WHO office in Belize City August 21st, the prerequisites for possible development of a Safe Communities programme were discussed. For WHO CC Professor Leif Svanström participated and from PAHO/WHO there were Dr. Beverley Barnett, Country Representative and Ms. Sandra Jones, Technical Advisor for Health Promotion.
This small country, almost 30 years of age as an independent state, has only about 300,000 inhabitants. Despite challenges to the economy, the country is labelled as middle-income, with production of oil, sugar, fish, and tourism. Average health is good and health services relatively well organised. However, the main program on injury is related to traffic safety and prevention of road traffic injuries; the program was revitalized after the World Health Day focus on thisarea a few years ago.
The most realistic future has to start with one priority problem, but has to involve the multi-sector approach espousedby the Safe Communities concept – probably traffic safety, again at the local community level. Working with thehealth sector on safety promotion is a priority area.
Rapporteur: Leif Svanström
Dr Beverley Barnett

1st National Seminar on Safe Communities, Thailand
After hosting the “4th Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities” in 2007, there is an agreement to promote
network participation and education among communities on safety works which include many aspects such as injury and deathfrom accidents, risk environment, disaster, and social risk. Hence, Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention ResearchCenter with the collaboration of both public and private sectors and patronized by Thai Health Foundation held the 1st National
Seminar on Safe Communities during 5‐6 March, 2009 at Chulabhorn Research Institute (CRI) Convention Center, Bangkok.
There were more than 400 participants including 300 community representatives from 80 communities in Thailand andthe representatives from public and private sectors. There were 22 learning stations to present community safety works. Therealso were 6 groups of discussion panels on safe road, disaster prevention, safe kids, safe food and product, safe work, andcommunity preparedness on emergency. The panels were conducted by community representative and safety educators.
Reporter: Ms. Chadaporn Suksiriwan, Thailand

Japan Safe Community Members Visited Taiwan in March, 2009
As the Coordinator of Safe Communities Network in Japan, Dr. Yoko Shiraishi accompanied Prof. Daisuke Fujita, Mr.
Takao Kuramochi, and Mr. Hiroshi Ishizuki to Taiwan for a 5‐day visit from 17th to 21st March, 2009. Since Kameoka City, thefirst Safe Community in Japan, held the designation ceremony last March, safety promotion has drawn a lot of attention in
Japanese communities. This trip was considered as an activity of learning and sharing.
Prof. Fujita is the principal of Ikeda Elementary School, Osaka, where an intrusive incident caused 23 children and staff
injured or died in June 2001. The tragedy evoked public awareness about safety of schools and communities. Prof. Fujita isespecially concerned about safety promotion in school settings. Mr. Kuramochi, Manager of Community Safety Section, Public
Security & Safety Dept., Atsugi City, is one of the key persons for safety promotion in Atsugi City. Mr. Ishizuki, Executive
Director of International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, is a member of Expert Committee of Atsugi City.
Prof. Lu Pai, Chair of Taiwanese Community Safety Promotion Center (TCSPC), and Prof. Ming‐Shinn Lee, Chair of
Taiwanese School Safety Promotion Center (TSSPC), arranged 5 Safe Schools in Taipei City, Yilan County, and Hualien County
and a Safe Community in Taipei City to share their experience with the guests.
The five Safe Schools they visited, including Tamkang University,
Jhih Shan Junior High School, Kang Le Elementary School, Dong Ao
Elementary School, and Nan Hu Elementary School, presented theirsafe school programs and took the guests to the sites to witness the
improvement. The Neihu Safe Community showed their efforts onwholesale store safety promotion.
After the visit, Prof. Fujita indicated that Taiwan safe schools not only
put efforts on hardware improvement for safety but also emphasize
on safety education which the children can carry with them for life.
On behalf of the visiting group, Dr. Shiraishi expressed sincere thanks
to host organizations, the 5 schools and Neihu Safe Community for
their hospitality and for the plentiful gains from this trip
Prof. Lee pointed out that ideas developed from western countries notalways fit oriental society and he is willing to share the tools he developed by adapting Asian culture to help school safety
promotion in Asian countries. Prof. Pai praised the visit for meeting the 6th indicator for International Safe Communities, andwelcomed more interactions forwards.
Reporters: Dora Lin & Jayce Lee, TSSPC, Taiwan“Hand-supporting” Project from Linfen Community, China
Last year the Security Group for old people has installed “Hand‐supporting” handles for 157 elderly households. After
this year’s survey, the group learned a need of the handles from 230 elderly households. The group members used one month toinstall 447 handles for these families, which was welcomed by the elderly. The benefited elderly said that since theestablishment of the Safe Community, the safety of the elderly has been paid special attention to and all kinds of security risks
in the community have been positivly intervened. They are all proud of living in Linfen Community.

Eliminate safety hidden danger and prevent senior citizens’ residential safety
There are 5969 senior citizens above 60 years old in Jinqiao Town, China including 230 solitary senior citizens and 1155 puresenior citizens who live alone or the family members are all old ages. Through investigation, we find that fall is one of the main
reasons that cause senior citizens’ injury in our town. Led by Jinqiao Town International Safe Community Construction Office,residential safety work group, cooperated with Zhangqiao community committee, installed safety infrastructures in bathrooms
and kitchens among senior citizen families in the neighborhood to eliminate residential safety hidden danger and prevent seniorcitizens’ daily life safety based on an overall fishing expedition.
In the prophase of the installing project, Zhangqiao community committee launched safety
infrastructures fishing expedition among 88 pure and solitary senior citizen families and old age
families above 80 years old, delivered consultant tables and understood various requirements as
installment of armrests and laying of non‐slip mats in order to make the installment targeted and meettheir needs. As some senior citizen families have already installed armrests, there are 45 families will
be installed armrests and 88 families will be laid non‐slip mats. This installing project began on
August 11th and will be finished by August 20th.
The installing project, in terms of government bearing the major cost and the senior citizen families
paying a little, is aim to further improve old age’s awareness of preventing fall as well as caring about
self‐safety and has received wild applauds and active coordination. This project plans to be spread
gradually in the neighborhood, aiming at effectively reduce the accidence of old ages’ fall and provide
a comfortable and safe living environment for senior citizen families in the neighborhood.
Report: Jinqiao Town International Safe Community Construction Office, China.

Article of interest
Spinks A, Turner C, Nixon J, McClure RJ. The ’WHO Safe Communities’ model for the prevention of injury in whole
populations. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004445. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004445.pub3.

CourseCourses 2009/ 2010
4th International Ph.D. Course on Internet
INJURY SURVEILLANCE AND CODING
1 October 2009 ‐ 31 March 2010 (25% rate)
7,5 Credits
Course Organizer: Professor Lars‐Gunnar Hörte , lars‐gunnar.horte@ki.se
CANADIAN FALLS PREVENTION CURRICULUM 2009
Distance Education Course for seniors’ health and community care providers on the design, implementation and evaluation offall prevention programs for all settings.
English: University of Victoria, http://www.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/
French: University of Edmonton, Campus St. Jean, http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/cerf/
For more information: www.injuryresearch.bc.ca or contact Sarah Elliott at sarah.elliott@gov.bc.ca, Phone 01 250 952 1520, Fax
01 250 952 1570.

Forthcoming Safety and Injury Conferences
2009 BC Municipal Occupational Health & Safety Conference ‐ Whistler,
13 ‐ 15 September 2009 , British Columbia, Canada
http://www.municipalsafety.bc.ca
 Second Injury Prevention Conference for UK and Ireland
24 ‐ 25 September 2009, Cardiff, Wales
http://www.injuryobservatory.net/2nd_injury_conference.html
 5th Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities (ARCSC)
Safety, Health, Harmony
18‐20 October 2009
Beijing, China
China Occupational Safety & Health Association (COSHA)
http://www.cosha.org.cn
Topicshttp://www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/Conferences/conf_news.pdf
Contact persons:Ms Wu Yanhua and Mr Liu Yan, E‐mail: 2009ascc@cosha.org.cn
Address: 21, Hepingli Beijie, Dongcheng District, Beijing , China 100713
Tel: +86‐10‐64463609; +86‐10‐64463339 , Fax: +86‐10‐64463609
 Senior Safety‐ future challenges Nordic Conference
21 ‐22 October 2009, Karlstad, Sweden
Programme http://www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/Conferences/program_karlstad.pdf
Abstract deadline: 15 May 2009
For information: www.karlstad.se/seniorsafety
Dr Tommy Rosenberg, Head of Knowledge Centre for Senior Safety, Karlstad, Sweden Tommy.Rosenberg@Karlstad.se

Kwai Tsing Traffic Safety Promotion Seminar‐ from Primary and Secondary Prevention
30 October 2009 , Hong Kong SAR, China
For information: www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/Conferences/traffic_promotion_seminar_2009.pdf
LEUNG Ming leungm1@ha.org.hkEuropean Child Home Safety Conference
2‐3 November, 2009, Stratford‐Upon‐Avon, UK
E‐mail: JCave@rospa.com
RoSPA, Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Birmingham, B5 7ST, UK
 Vi gjør Norge tryggere
17– 18 November 2009 , Voksenåsen, OSLO, Norway
First Announcement
E‐mail: Eva Jakobson Vaagland . eva.vaagland@skafor.org, WWW.SKAFOR.ORG

2010


RoSPAʹs 75th Road Safety Congress 22‐24 February, 2010 Stratford‐upon‐Avon, UK www.rospa.com/road E‐
mail:events@rospa.com Abstract deadline: 19 September 2009 19th International Safe Communities Conference Sustainability of Safe Community Programs23‐ 26 March, 2010
Suwon, Korea
First Announcement www.2010safecom.com/pdf/1st_Announcement.pdf
http://www.2010safecom.org/web_mail/web_mail.html
www.2010safecom.org
Abstract deadline: 31 October 2009 . For information: jpcho@ajou.ac.kr
 The Second European Regional Safe Community Conference Incorporating the 7th Nordic Conference on Safe
Communities How to develop Safe Communities in Europe using the Nordic experiences, re‐establishing a European Network of Safe
Communities. 19‐20 May, 2010 Reykjavik, Iceland First Announcement (short version; long version) www.publichealth.is/SC‐2010Iceland Contact: Rósa Thorsteinsdóttir E‐mail: rosa@publichealth.is Tel: +354 5800900 / +354 8400906 Fax: +354 5800901´
Public Health Institute of Iceland, Laugavegur 116, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland 2nd South Eastern Europe Safe Community Conference September, 2010 Croatia Contact: Tanja Pekez Palisko E‐mail:tashamed@gmail.com
 10th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion 21‐24 September, 2010 London, UK
The first formal announcement for Safety 2010 will be issued in January 2009
Call for abstracts: closing date will be Friday 15 January 2010, 17:00 hrs
http://www.safety2010.org.uk
Early bird rate before 30 April 2009 £450.00
Contact: Karen Hughes
Email: k.e.hughes@ljmu.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 151 231 8723
Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, Kingsway House, 5th Floor, Hatton Garden, Liverpool L3
2AJ, UK . Tel: +44 (0) 151 231 4510 | Fax: +44 (0) 151 231 4515

Annual Report
Beging 2009, ISCs are required to submit annual reports. Please submit by 1 February in word format your completed report
and web page changes to the Certifying Centre who evaluated your application.
For annual report template: http://www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/guidelines/annual_report_isc_090902.pdf
For Certifying Centres: http://www.phs.ki.se/csp/who_certifying_centres_network_en.htm

WHO Collaborating Centre for Community Safety Promotion
Karolinska Institutet
Department of Public Health Sciences
Division of Social Medicine
Norrbacka 2nd Floor, SE‐171 76, Stockholm, Sweden.
Communication: Koustuv Dalal, Editor (Email: koustuv.dalal@ki.se )