Do one thing to prevent drowning, says WHO

The National Health Watch

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged for people around the world to “do one thing,” to prevent drowning.
It made this call to mark World Drowning Prevention Day on Monday.
According to the WHO, drowning is the leading cause of death globally for children and young people aged 1–24.
It is also the third leading cause of injury-related deaths overall, drowning tragically claims more than 236,000 lives each year.
It said that more than 90 per cent of drowning deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, with children under the age of five being at highest risk.
These deaths were frequently linked to daily, routine activities, such as bathing, collecting water for domestic use, travelling over water on boats, and fishing.
“Every year, around the world, hundreds of thousands of people drown,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
WHO recommends six evidence-based measures to prevent drowning, including installing barriers controlling access to water; training bystanders in safe rescue and resuscitation; teaching school-aged children basic swimming and water safety skills; providing supervised day care for children; setting and enforcing safe boating, shipping and ferry regulations; and improving flood risk management.
This year, the theme of World Drowning Prevention Day invites the global community to “do one thing” to prevent drowning.
Examples of actions that can be taken are as follows:

  • Individuals can share drowning prevention and water safety advice with their families, friends and colleagues, sign up for swimming or water safety lessons, or support local drowning prevention charities and groups.
  • Groups can host public events to share water safety information, launch water safety campaigns, or commit to developing or delivering new drowning prevention programmes using recommended interventions.
  • Governments can develop new drowning prevention policies, strategies, legislations or investment, convene multisectoral roundtables or discussions on drowning burden and solutions, and commit to supporting drowning prevention programming domestically or internationally.