Happy Lunar New Year to all who are celebrating today.
Building Safer Roads To Help Save Lives.
As Brazil battles one of the world’s deadliest Coronavirus outbreaks, it can be proud of progress tackling another deadly global public health challenge: road traffic fatalities.
Its fourth-largest city, Fortaleza — part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ global network of cities and experts dedicated to reducing road traffic deaths and injuries — has met a 2020 UN goal to reduce such fatalities by 50%.
Over the past 14 years, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety has dedicated more than $500 million to save lives on the world’s roads, working with road safety organizations to implement policies that have helped reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries in low- and middle-income countries.
Between 2007 and 2019, an estimated 312,000 lives were saved.
Aerial view of a safer streets intervention at Dragão do Mar in Fortaleza, Brazil. Image: Victor Macedo, courtesy of Bloomberg Philanthropies
A story onGlobal Health Now — co-authored by Kelly Larson, who directs Bloomberg Philanthropies’ road safety program, and Vital Strategies’ Sandra Mullin — details other cities that have found success putting Bloomberg Philanthropies-supported activities into practice:
Mumbai, India has seen a 27% reduction in traffic fatalities since 2015, with road crash fatalities decreasing from 611 in 2015 to 447 in 2019.
Bogotá, Colombia made a bold decision to reduce the speed limit to 50km/hour city-wide, inspiring the city of Cali to work toward the same goal.
In Vietnam, officials passed a comprehensive helmet law, which resulted in helmet use increasing from 40% to more than 90%.
In China, the government mandated child restraint use to protect minors from injuries from road traffic crashes.
In Mexico, officials passed a constitutional amendment recognizing mobility as a human right, and explicitly granting the federal government the power to legislate on road safety issues.
In Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India, 69 brands of carshave been crash-tested. Five of these cars were upgraded and received a higher star rating in subsequent tests.
Read the full storyandsubscribe to the Global Health Now newsletter.
House prosecutors said Donald Trump’s pattern of inciting violence against his opponents damaged U.S. institutions and emboldened extremists, arguing that the former president should be convicted in his impeachment trial to prevent escalating violence in the country.
The House impeachment managers also said Trump inspired or condoned the domestic extremist plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the protests at state capitals around the country and the threats that required more than 25,000 National Guard troops to lock down Washington for President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
They said he must be convicted to prevent a future president from following the same destructive path.
“We’re not here to punish Donald Trump,” said Representative Diana DeGette, one of the nine House managers. “We are here to prevent the seeds of hatred that he planted from bearing any more fruit.”
At least 138 officers suffered injuries, from bruises and lacerations to more serious damage such as concussions, rib fractures, missing fingertips, burns and even a mild heart attack.
A lawyer for one member of the Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola, filed a memo in federal court making an argument Democrats have stressed repeatedly in the impeachment proceedings: that the riot was the culmination of weeks of conspiracies and misinformation spread by the president to overturn the election results.
"I would imagine by the time we get to April, that would be what I call open season. Namely, virtually everybody and anybody in any category can start to get vaccinated," Dr. Fauci said.
He added another dose of hope, saying that current vaccines "seem to do well against this UK variant.”
About 40% of the 470,000 lives lost so far to Covid in the U.S. could have been averted, had the country’s death rate been on par with other high-income G7 nations. This was the conclusion of a damningLancet Commission Report into the Trump Administration’s catastrophic handling of the crisis. Read the fullreportand watch thisflashback to May 27 when I predicted this outcome to Christiane Amanpour on CNN.
Dr. Jennifer B. Nuzzo, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, explains the positive impact of vaccines on elderly populations in an interview posted by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“This virus is circulating so quickly, and particularly with the discovery of the genetic variants, it really adds urgency to the need to try to protect ourselves. You don’t want to become infected before you get a chance to be vaccinated," Dr. Nuzzo said. Watch the video here:
Mike Bloombergweighed in on social media: "For years, we had been reducing deaths from environmental exposure. Then, the previous administration took office—and thousands lost their lives to pollution. Elections matter. Leaders matter. And President Biden must act quickly to save lives."
Share trading volume quadrupled in Amsterdam after Brexit. The return of Swiss share trading to London, which only resumed last week, may see the U.K. capital edge back ahead in February, although its average daily volumes will still be well below historic levels.
Plus: Wishing Mike Bloomberg a Happy Birthday this Feb. 14.
A Boost for Black Theater.
The Black Seed, a first-ever national strategic plan to create impact and "thrivability" for Black theater institutions, has unveiled a generous grants program that will benefit nearly 100 Black theaters across the U.S.
Bloomberg Philanthropies is a proud supporter of the initiative, which has given one- or two-year grants ranging from $10,000 to $150,000.
New York City Center presents three encore presentations about the Black experience in America:
“Lady Swings the Blues” — conceived, created, and performed by world-renowned tap dancer Dormeshia
“to be seen” — choreographed by founding Artistic Director of A.I.M Kyle Abraham, performed by American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Calvin Royal III
Monday is Presidents' Day, then the Sheekey Daily Read hits the road for a short hiatus. We'll return to your in-boxes on Monday, February 22.
Photo credit: my son Dillon Sheekey
Best of Late Night.
On criticism that Trump's legal defense team has been unprepared at the impeachment:
"[Trump's legal team] never addressed key issues. They went off on meandering tangents. One guy cried while reading a poem. It was going so badly for the Republicans, I thought Ted Cruz was going to start another insurrection just to change the subject." -- Trevor Noah
On Day 2 of the trial, which was the House impeachment managers' turn to present to the Senate:
"It was day 2 of Trump's impeachment trial and it went a lot better for Trump than day 1, mostly because his lawyers didn't have to speak today." -- Jimmy Fallon
"The former president’s lawyers had the day off, and they needed it, because they’re still in reconstructive surgery from punching themselves in the face for two hours yesterday." -- Stephen Colbert
"Republicans are like: 'Wow, that defense was terrible. He couldn’t have made a worse case. Anyway: Not guilty.'" -- Jimmy Fallon
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