Fatality from Road Traffic Accident in Guinea: A Retrospective Descriptive Analysis

Abstract

Objectives: Causes and risk factors that result in fatal road traffic accident have not been described at the national level in Guinea yet. The goal of this study is to explore the causes and risk factors related to fatal road traffic accident, identified most vulnerable road users, and inform the road traffic prevention policy in Guinea. Methods: We made a retrospective descriptive analysis based on national fatal road traffic accident data from the Department of Health Information at the Guinean Ministry of Health for year 2011. Results: In 2011, road traffic accident was responsible for an aggregate number of 1655 deaths with an overall death rate of 15.3 per 100,000 population. Male experienced more than twice the risk of death from road traffic accidents (21.9 deaths per 100,000 population) compared with female (9.0 deaths per 100,000 population). While taking the population as a whole, the highest death rate was found among the middle aged in 35 - 49 age group accounting for (29.7 deaths per 100,000 population), followed successively by young adults age group 25 - 34 years (24.6 deaths per 100,000 population), and the middle aged in 50 - 64 age group (22.9 deaths per 100,000 population). Principally, occupants, motorcyclists and pedestrians sustained considerable burden of deaths respectively (9.2; 2.9; 2.2 per 100,000 population). In re-gional setting, the highest death rate was found in Upper Guinea (19.5 per 100,000 population), followed by Forest Guinea (18.7 per 100,000 population) and Middle Guinea (16.8 per 100,000 population). A large proportion of male was killed as motorcyclist than female while high per-centage of female died as occupant than male for all age group. The regional distribution showed that when a remarkable number of occupant death were observed in Upper and Forest Guinea, more people died as pedestrian and pedal cyclist in Conakry. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that most of the deaths were among occupants, motorcyclists and pedestrians, and the productive workforce aged 25 - 49 years. It was found that majority of the deaths happened in Upper Guinea followed by Forest Guinea. Improvement of roads design, strict enforcement of road safety laws and raising the awareness of general public about the causes and risks factors of road traffic accident through various channels are highly required which will promote economic growth in the local communities and then help people escape the poverty trap.