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Senior Project Officer in our Vietname office, Dinh Dang Hai, describes how vehicles have utterly transformed Hanoi:
"Less than 20 years ago, our people moved about their cities and villages by walking and cycling. But nowadays motorcycles and cars are being used for more than eighty percent of road trips in Vietnamese cities. People use private motorbikes for their daily trips to work, to supermarkets, to … everywhere. Motorcycles and cars occupy most of the cities’ spaces. Parks have become parking lots and sidewalks have become roads for motorcycles at rush hour.
Going out on the street fills almost all pedestrians, especially children, with fear. "
And what he and his colleagues decided to do about it:
"The story of Vietnamese children learning to walk and learning to smile made us think about what we, at HealthBridge, could do to change their situation. In 2010, we decided to start in Hoian, a small and beautiful city in the middle of Vietnam, with multiple strategies for advocacy."