Swim lessons to cut child drowning
A programme to reduce child drowning by teaching children to swim and keeping infants away from water bodies have managed to reduce child-drowning rate by 85 percent in project areas, reveals a study.
The four-year collaborative project of Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) and Royal Life Saving Society, Australia, also showed significant reduction in drowning related injuries among the children who attended the programme.
It also reduced child deaths from drowning by 90 percent among the children graduating from the programme, says a press release.
CIPRB Executive Director Dr AKM Fazlur Rahman said the study proved that innovative steps taken in Bangladesh to reduce child drowning could be exercised in other countries as well.
Bangladesh has the highest drowning rate in the world with around 18,000 children drowning every year, he said.
Drowning deaths exceed the number of deaths from tuberculosis, malaria, tetanus, whooping cough, and polio combined, the press release said.
Rahman said the unique and innovative programme taken up by the CIPB is not only effective, but also is very cost effective and can be used in other countries to reduce child drowning.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments