Background Road crashes constitute Cambodia’s most serious non-communicable public health crisis, claiming on average 6 lives per day and seriously injuring 17 more. In 2014, over 70% of victims were motorcyclists, only 12% of whom wore a helmet. AIP Foundation is implementing the USAID-DIV supported “Head Safe. Helmet On” (HSHO) project, from 2014 to 2016 to increase helmet use, through three main components: school-based education, high-level advocacy, and behaviour change communications (BCC).

Methods Under BCC, a knowledge, attitude, and behaviour survey including 400 interviews in HSHO target provinces was implemented at baseline in August 2014 and at midline in August 2015. Based off of findings, BCC designs nation-wide mass media campaigns, including television and radio commercials, to address the public’s stated reasons for not wearing a helmet and raise awareness on the importance of helmet use.

Results In the mid-term evaluation, most respondents (about 87%) reported exposure to a helmet safety message in the last year. When prompted with an HSHO BCC image, 86% of respondents recalled seeing it on a TV commercial. Respondents who reported that passenger helmet use is important increased from about 45% to 60%. The percentage of respondents who reported that they were likely or very likely to be stopped by police for not wearing a helmet as a passenger increased from 25% to 66%. However, 67% of respondents replied that they are unlikely to be stopped by police if a child is not wearing a helmet. Awareness of the passenger helmet law, expected to be enforced in January 2016, increased from 69% to 91%. Respondents reporting that they “always” wear a helmet increased from 10% at baseline to 20% at midterm.

Conclusions BBC can increase public knowledge of and attitude toward the importance of motorcycle helmet use, and thereby improve citizens’ practices.