Public policies based on scientific evidence: Child road safety

Abstract

Road traffic accidents are a global public health problem. In Latin America, the mortality rate among children due to road traffic accidents almost doubles the global average. We describe our experience formulating a public policy on child road safety in Panama, based on the scientific evidence produced by our research group. Moreover, we propose a model for public policy-making that may be used in other Latin American countries. It is a formulation vector that is part of the public policy-making cycle and entails identifying a public problem, conducting scientific research, publishing and disseminating scientific products for public policy-making with the participation of scientists, the civil society, and decision-makers by sharing spaces for dialog.