New Delhi, July 24 (IANS). Every year around three lakh people around the world lose their lives due to drowning. The most worrying thing is that a large number of them are children. Even today, drowning is one of the biggest causes of death for children aged 5 to 14 years.
In view of these worrying figures, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new technical package ahead of Drowning Prevention Day celebrated globally on 25 July. Its purpose is to inform governments and communities about simple and effective measures that can prevent deaths due to drowning to a great extent.
WHO says most drowning incidents occur in rivers, ponds, lakes, wells, large water reservoirs in homes and swimming pools. Most affected are low- and middle-income countries, where more than 90 percent of the world’s drownings occur.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that every drowning incident is a tragedy and the matter of relief is that most of them can be prevented. He says that for this, not only the health department, but everyone including education, transport, disaster management and local administration will have to work together.
With this in mind, WHO has prepared a package of seven major measures named ‘Protect’. The first solution is to create safe infrastructure around water, so that people do not accidentally fall into the water. Second, to strengthen facilities like immediate rescue and first aid i.e. rescue and CPR in case of an accident. Third, to ensure the safety of those who work around water for employment, such as fishermen or sailors.
Apart from this, the fourth solution is to make water transport safe, so that safety rules are strictly followed in services like boat or ferry. The fifth and very important suggestion is that children should be trained at the school level in swimming and being safe in water. Sixth, there should be better arrangements for monitoring and care of small children, so that they do not go near water alone. The seventh solution is to prepare in advance for floods and other natural disasters, because in such times the risk of drowning increases manifold.
WHO has also warned that climate change is now increasing the incidence of drowning. Extreme weather events such as floods, storms and heatwaves are increasing rapidly around the world. As the heat increases, more people turn to rivers, lakes and swimming pools, due to which the risk of accidents also increases.
Citing a study conducted in Britain, WHO said that with every 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature, there was an increase of about 7.2 percent in deaths due to drowning. On days when the temperature is above 25 degrees Celsius, the risk of drowning increases by about five times as compared to normal days.
This year WHO has launched its new technical package in the African country Ghana. The reason for this is that every year in Ghana, about 1,100 people die due to drowning, which means on an average three people lose their lives every day. Most of these include children and youth. WHO believes that if countries like Ghana implement these measures properly, thousands of lives can be saved.
The campaign is also supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The organization says that the measures suggested to prevent deaths due to drowning have already proven effective in many countries and now there is a need to implement them on a larger scale.
This time the theme of World Drowning Prevention Day is “United to change the situation.” The motive behind this is that if governments, local administration, schools, families and communities work together, not thousands but millions of deaths can be prevented every year.
–IANS
PIM/AS
