Child Drowning
<i>A leading killer, yet unrecognised: Unicef</i>
Although drowning is emerging as a leading killer of children in Bangladesh, it has remained undetected as a significant health issue, says a new Unicef report.
One of every four children between one and four years dies from drowning in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, it shows.
More children drown than die of diseases like measles, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria and tuberculosis combined in the four countries, which were surveyed for the report.
"For too long drowning has been a hidden epidemic", said Gordon Alexander, director of Unicef's Office of Research, which jointly conducted the study with The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC).
"Drowning is emerging as a leading cause of death for children in the surveyed countries. And yet drowning is off the political radar".
Adequate supervision and swimming lessons can significantly reduce child drowning, suggests the report, "Child Drowning: Evidence for a newly recognised epidemic and its prevention", which has been published recently.
The vast majority of drowning deaths are preventable, as they tend to occur within 20 metres of the home, when unsupervised children wander off and fall into local water hazards.
The report includes new evidence into prevention interventions in an operational research programme in Bangladesh, which shows 80 percent of the deaths were reduced when poor village women leave their children at village crèches when at work.
Another 90 percent death rate was slashed for children four years and older, who participated in SwimSafe (swimming and safe rescue training) programme.
"This report makes clear that there is a serious--and until now, hidden--problem in the countries surveyed", said Gordon Alexander. "It also provides evidence of affordable interventions that can save hundreds of thousands of children's lives. We must now act where we have the evidence".
The report claims that the actual drowning death toll in Bangladesh is higher than is reported, as drowning causes immediate death mostly, and children who drown are never taken to health facilities whereas the figures rely on reports from hospitals and health facilities.
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