Vienna to be the World Safety Centre for Three Days

Vienna 14. 5. 2004 (PROTEXT/ots) - From June 6th to 9th, 2004, the 7th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, "Safety2004", will convene in Austria with over 1,500 participants from more than 100 nations. Three hundred international experts from practical occupations, government and science will present effective measures for greater safety. The three focal areas of the conference are child safety, traffic safety and violence prevention.

Each day (!) nearly 14,000 people the world over die from injuries. Most of these injuries are the consequences of inadequate safety and can be avoided through simple procedures. And just this point the World Health Organisation (WHO) hopes to press home with the World Conference.

360 international experts will present successful campaigns for safety devices as well as new preventive measures and innovations for personal protection. Among other items, partly futuristic technical developments will also be presented. For example, present-day automotive electronics allow the use of night vision devices, distance measuring devices and fatigue alerters. And should an accident still occur despite these measures, the damaged vehicle can automatically place an emergency call and communicate its position by GPS.

The Conference will be opened by Etienne Krug, Head of the Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention at WHO. Other prominent experts are Christine Branche, Director of the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention at the US National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and Joanne Vincenten, Director of the European Child Safety Alliance. Austria too will be represented at the top political level by Vice Chancellor and Transportation Minister Hubert Gorbach as well as by Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat. The Conference is being organised by the Austrian Institute for Home and Leisure Time Safety, with the Institutes Director, Dr. Rupert Kisser, chairing the Conference.

Information on the Conference and a detailed programme are available at www.safety2004.info.

NOTE: Press conferences, 7-9 June, starting at 9:30 a.m., at the Austria Centre of Vienna. During the World Conference press discussions will be held daily with top-level government representatives and prominent Austrian and international experts from science and practical work. Topics: 7 June: Traffic Safety; 8 June: Child Safety; 9 June: Violence Prevention.

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ots original text: comm:unications Information in the Internet: http://www.presseportal.de

Inquiries from the press and appointments for individual interviews: comm:unications, Sabine Pöhacker T: +43/1/315 14 11- 0, e-mail: sabine.poehacker@communications.co.at

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