Abuja — Three-day forum brings editors and journalists from five African countries together around evidence, reporting practice and safer-road policy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) will today open a three-day African media forum on road safety in Abuja, bringing together editors, journalists, content creators and road safety experts to begin developing a shared set of media guidelines for reporting road crashes and road safety across the continent.

Road deaths are increasing in the WHO African Region even as they decline globally. Nearly 250,000 people die in road crashes across the Region each year, roughly one death every two minutes. Africa accounts for about one-fifth of global road deaths despite having only 3 per cent of the world's registered vehicles. Nigeria records more than 36,000 road deaths annually, the highest number in the Region.

Dr Pavel Ursu, WHO Representative in Nigeria, said the forum is intended to strengthen the connection between road safety evidence and how the issue is reported.

"This is about closing the gap between science and story. It's about correcting misperceptions on an urgent and preventable health crisis and driving accountability for action that saves lives. Media leaders can change the conversation, and ultimately this drives the uptake of policies we know prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roads," he said.

A central focus of the forum will be how road crashes are framed in news coverage. Reports often focus on individual drivers, victims or immediate events while giving less attention to unsafe road design, weak enforcement, inadequate regulation and other systemic factors that shape whether crashes result in death or serious injury.

The proposed media guidelines will draw on the Safe Systems approach, which recognises that people will make mistakes on the road and that transport systems should be designed so those mistakes do not result in death or serious injury. The approach combines safer infrastructure, safer speeds, effective laws and regulation, enforcement and other measures that reduce risk across the transport system.

Dr Nhan Tran, Head of WHO's Violence and Injury Prevention Unit, said:

"It is about building safe streets for people, not fast-moving motor vehicles. It's about making safety the top priority. The Safe Systems approach acknowledges that humans will always make mistakes on the roads, so our transport systems must absorb these errors in ways that ensure people are not killed or seriously injured."

Dapo Olorunyomi, OON, Chief Executive Officer of CJID, said the forum also reflects a broader question about what journalism chooses to make visible.

"Road crashes are often reported as isolated tragedies. But many of the conditions that make them deadly -- road design, enforcement, regulation, speed and public transport -- are public-policy questions. We want to work with editors and journalists across Africa to develop a stronger reporting standard that helps the public understand those links and asks more consistently who is responsible for making roads safer."

The forum will bring together 20 participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda, including managing editors and journalists from the BBC, AFP, Deutsche Welle, Xinhua, AllAfrica, Premium Times, Nation Media and the South African Broadcasting Corporation, alongside independent content creators and road safety experts. The media guidelines are expected to be completed by mid-2027.

The Abuja forum builds on WHO's wider road safety journalism initiative. With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, more than 5,000 reporters have been trained in countries with high road-fatality burdens, with participants producing award-winning reporting in Ghana, Nigeria and India.

The discussions will also consider the links between road safety, sustainable mobility, public health and climate action. Safer infrastructure, safer speeds and reliable public transport can reduce deaths and serious injuries while also supporting lower emissions, cleaner air and increased walking, cycling and public-transport use.

About CJID

The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) is an African media development and innovation organisation working to strengthen journalism, democratic accountability and public-interest information systems. Through journalism, research, data, technology and policy engagement, CJID supports journalists and newsrooms across Africa and works across areas including media freedom, information integrity, elections, public health, climate, natural resources and digital governance.

Its Health Reporting Project supports journalists and newsrooms to produce deeper, evidence-based reporting on public health and development issues.

About WHO Nigeria

The World Health Organization works with the Government of Nigeria and partners to improve health outcomes through technical assistance, emergency response, disease prevention, and health-system strengthening. WHO supports Nigeria's efforts to advance universal health coverage, improve health security, and protect the health and well-being of all people.

The World Health Organization works with the Government of Nigeria and partners to improve health outcomes through technical assistance, emergency response, disease prevention and health-system strengthening. WHO supports Nigeria's efforts to advance universal health coverage, improve health security and protect the health and well-being of all people.