Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan has attended the launch of the Child Safety Campaign by Al Hilal Bank at Corniche Hospital, the campaign’s next stop to offer free car seats to new parents.

The event, which is part of the Child Safety roadshow at all leading UAE hospitals, was also attended by Alex Coelho, CEO of Al Hilal Bank and senior management of Al Hilal Bank and Corniche Hospital.

As the UAE's oldest and largest maternity hospital and a pioneering referral centre for obstetric and neonatal care, Corniche Hospital is an influential partner in Al Hilal Bank’s long-term Shariah-compliant Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, Programme. In addition, to the Corniche Hospital, the campaign is a collaborative effort that spans other leading UAE hospitals and relevant authorities under the direction of the UAE Traffic Control, the Ministry of Happiness, and the National Tolerance Programme.

The Child Car Seat initiative is aimed at making the UAE roads safer for children, whose leading cause of death in the UAE is traffic accidents. The CSR campaign covers multiple aspects of child safety in the UAE, and will also address the use of seat belts, automated external defibrillator installations, CPR training, and awareness about car suffocation, texting and driving, tailgating, pool safety and food choking hazards.

"We are pleased to see that our partnership with the Corniche Hospital has been a success. Awareness efforts such as the Al Hilal Bank Child Safety Campaign are needed to embed child safety into our culture, and this collaboration is a powerful start to achieve this objective. By offering car seats and openly discussing this life-threatening phenomenon and how to take the proper safety measures to prevent it, we can create tangible change in the UAE that will be felt for years to come," Coelho said.

During the event, Al Hilal Bank provided new parents with car seats for children, as well as stickers and information leaflets about road safety for children. The distribution is in line with the Federal Traffic Law No. 21 of 1995, as amended per Ministerial Resolutions no. 177 and no. 178 of 2017, regarding licence issuance and renewal and new traffic control rules and procedures for the protection of citizens from traffic violations.