ADDIS ABABA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on Monday revealed that Uganda and Cameroon are among the highest affected by road traffic deaths in Africa.
According to figures from the ECA, the accident severity index in Uganda, which is one of the highest affected in road traffic fatalities in Africa, indicated the death of 24 people per 100 road crashes.
"On average, Uganda loses 10 people per day in road traffic crashes, the highest level in East Africa," the ECA said.
The overall annual cost of road crashes in Uganda is currently estimated at approximately 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, which accounted for 5 percent of Uganda's GDP, according to the ECA.
In Cameroon, 16,583 road accidents and 1,500 deaths were recorded on average every year, according to the ECA.
Cameroon's risk of road deaths is estimated at 26.7 per every 100,000 people, well higher that its neighboring west African countries.
Noting that "the situation in Uganda and Cameroon is reflective of that of the entire continent," ECA also stressed that African countries in general "perform poorly in road safety management."
"Many of our countries have inadequate institutional arrangements, finance, and data to deal with the carnage on our roads," executive secretary of the ECA Vera Songwe said.
"It is unacceptable that the risk of death from road traffic accidents in Africa is as high as 26.6 per 100,000 as compared to 17.0 in South-East Asia and 9.3 in Europe," an ECA statement quoted Vera Songwe, as saying on Monday.
