WDPD: Nigerians Urged to Commit to Drowning Prevention

Bennett Oghifo

Nigerians have been advised to improve their knowledge of the safety measures to take in and around water bodies to prevent avoidable incidents of drowning.

The call is coming ahead of the 2023 World Drowning Prevention Day to be held globally today, Tuesday July 25, as declared in April 2021 by United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/75/273. 

The theme of this year’s event is: ‘Going blue for drowning prevention’. To mark the Day, cities around the world are invited to illuminate notable landmarks in blue light to draw attention to drowning as a leading cause of death.

“Every city is invited to have one of more notable landmarks illuminated in blue light during the evening of 25 July,” particularly landmarks near water. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said, “An estimated 236,000 people drown every year, and that drowning has caused over 2.5 million deaths in the last decade.

According to statistics, Africa has the highest drowning rates in the world and Asia has the highest drowning by population. Nigeria has the highest estimated drowning rates in Africa. 

The WHO data published in 2020 Drownings Deaths in Nigeria reached 6,584 or 0.44% of total deaths. The age adjusted Death Rate is 2.17 per 100,000 of population ranks Nigeria #107 in the world.

Africa and Asia bear 90% of the world’s drowning burden.

“Drowning is among the 10 leading causes of death for children aged 5-14 years. More than 90% of drowning deaths occur in rivers, lakes, wells, domestic water storage vessels and swimming pools in low- and middle-income countries, with children and adolescents in rural areas disproportionately affected.

The overwhelming majority of these deaths (90%) happen in low- and middle-income countries. Globally, the highest drowning rates occur among children aged 1–4 years, followed by children aged 5–9 years.

The human, social and economic toll of these losses is intolerably high, and entirely preventable.

The implementation of evidence-based, low-cost drowning prevention interventions can drastically reduce risk of drowning. These include: installing barriers controlling access to water providing safe places away from water such as crèches for pre-school children with capable childcare teaching swimming, water safety and safe rescue skills training bystanders in safe rescue and resuscitation setting and enforcing safe boating, shipping and ferry regulations improving flood risk management

“Through this global event, we remember lives lost due to drowning and aim to increase knowledge on safety in and around water,” said WHO in a statement. 

The global health body said, “Drowning doesn’t have a single cause, or a single solution. But it can be prevented.

“In recognition of this, for World Drowning Prevention Day in 2022, the World Health Organization called on stakeholders to “Do one thing” to improve the safety of people in and around water. Guidance was offered on what individuals, groups, and governments could do – and the global response was tremendous.

“Some governments started the process of developing national strategies for drowning prevention. Groups hosted public awareness events and launched water safety campaigns. “Countless individuals took action by learning and sharing new skills (swimming, safe rescue and resuscitation), or providing support to a drowning prevention group or activity.”

Drowning is considered “One problem, many solutions.” Building on this momentum, “WHO now asks countries and partners to respond to our call to action for global drowning prevention:”

The WHO explained what they mean by this, stating that “if you are not yet involved in drowning prevention then ‘Do one thing’. There’s so much that can be done, whether you are an individual, a group (organization or community) or a government.

“If you’ve already started to work in your area on drowning prevention, then ‘Improve one thing’. There’s always an opportunity to engage a broader range of partners, identify parts of your efforts that are not working as well as they should, or connect with a high-risk group for drowning that your efforts haven’t reached yet.

“And if you are deeply engaged with drowning prevention and have a mature programme or a portfolio of programmes, then ‘Add one thing’. Look for ways of adding to your portfolio of action, tackle a new part of the drowning context in your setting, or broaden your efforts to reduce drowning in other settings. There’s always more that can be done. “Anyone can drown, but no one should.”