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SOC Children's Village
24 May 2012
24/05/2012
– Both the United Nations Children’s Fund and The Alliance for Safe
Children are urging the international community to recognize this
“hidden killer” as a factor in child mortality.
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The
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Innocenti Research Centre and
water safety expert organization, The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC),
are working together to curb accidental death by drowning among
children in Asia.
The two groups brought awareness to the issue with the launch of a new report, entitled, Child Drowning: Evidence for a Newly Recognized Cause of Child Mortality in Low and Middle-income Countries in Asia. The report presents a number of interesting findings about the extent to which accidental death contributes to child mortality in several Asian countries.
In Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam and parts of China, drowning is a leading cause of death in childhood—accounting for one fourth of all childhood deaths after infancy. In rural Bangladesh in particular, drowning rates are up to 50 per cent higher than in Australia. In Asia generally, other research has shown, child mortality from drowning is also about 30 times higher than it is in the United States.
UNICEF’s research director, Gordon Alexander, called drowning a “hidden killer.”
“Over the past three decades countries have made strong, continuous progress on infectious disease reduction . . . And yet drowning is off the political radar,” he said.
According to the two groups’ report, most instances of child drowning are preventable. Children are most likely to fall victim to local hazards and drown within 20 metres of their homes, usually when they are unsupervised.
Yet, interventions to save lives are not altogether unaffordable. One study showed that putting children in crèches (nurseries or early childhood education centres) can cut drowning deaths by fourth-fifths. Even better results can be achieved by teaching kids about swimming and water safety. Enrolling children in SwimSafe programmes cut deaths by 90 per cent.
“There is no difference whether a child dies from measles, diarrhea, pneumonia or drowning; it is equally tragic,” said Pete Peterson, President of TASC in a news release. “Like these other causes, child drowning is a leading cause of death in children and now that we know it is equally preventable, it is time to act.”
The report notes among its recommendations that raising awareness about the issue of drowning and child fatalities can help achieve the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on child mortality. The MDGs are a set of eight benchmarks for achieving meaningful progress in global development. Goal #4 calls for a two-thirds reduction in the number of child deaths since 1990 by the year 2015.
The two groups brought awareness to the issue with the launch of a new report, entitled, Child Drowning: Evidence for a Newly Recognized Cause of Child Mortality in Low and Middle-income Countries in Asia. The report presents a number of interesting findings about the extent to which accidental death contributes to child mortality in several Asian countries.
In Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam and parts of China, drowning is a leading cause of death in childhood—accounting for one fourth of all childhood deaths after infancy. In rural Bangladesh in particular, drowning rates are up to 50 per cent higher than in Australia. In Asia generally, other research has shown, child mortality from drowning is also about 30 times higher than it is in the United States.
UNICEF’s research director, Gordon Alexander, called drowning a “hidden killer.”
“Over the past three decades countries have made strong, continuous progress on infectious disease reduction . . . And yet drowning is off the political radar,” he said.
According to the two groups’ report, most instances of child drowning are preventable. Children are most likely to fall victim to local hazards and drown within 20 metres of their homes, usually when they are unsupervised.
Yet, interventions to save lives are not altogether unaffordable. One study showed that putting children in crèches (nurseries or early childhood education centres) can cut drowning deaths by fourth-fifths. Even better results can be achieved by teaching kids about swimming and water safety. Enrolling children in SwimSafe programmes cut deaths by 90 per cent.
“There is no difference whether a child dies from measles, diarrhea, pneumonia or drowning; it is equally tragic,” said Pete Peterson, President of TASC in a news release. “Like these other causes, child drowning is a leading cause of death in children and now that we know it is equally preventable, it is time to act.”
The report notes among its recommendations that raising awareness about the issue of drowning and child fatalities can help achieve the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on child mortality. The MDGs are a set of eight benchmarks for achieving meaningful progress in global development. Goal #4 calls for a two-thirds reduction in the number of child deaths since 1990 by the year 2015.
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