South Africa takes centre stage in global fight for safer communities
Cape Town is hosting the 16th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion to address global violence and injury rates. The event focuses on systemic solutions to safety challenges, highlighting South Africa's own high homicide and traffic injury statistics.
Why it matters
The conference addresses a major public health crisis that claims over 4.4 million lives annually, particularly impacting low- and middle-income nations.
South Africa is set to become the centre of the global conversation on safety when researchers, policymakers, community leaders and safety experts from more than 80 countries descend on Cape Town this week.
The 16th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, known as Safety 2026, will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from September 1 to 4 under the theme “Ubuntu: United for a Safer Future.”
But organisers say the gathering is about far more than academics and policy discussions.
At its heart is a question that affects ordinary South Africans every day: what would it take to make people genuinely feel safe where they live, work, travel and raise their families?
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in