A lifesaver candidate carries a casualty to the rescue board after paddling out 100 metres away to bring them back to shore.
Drowning
Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/immersion in liquid, which can result in death, morbidity or no morbidity. Major risk factors for drowning include age, sex, access to water, lack of effective supervision of children and the frequency of natural and water transport related disasters.
In 2019, more than 74 000 people drowned in the Western Pacific Region - one third of the world's drowning deaths. It kills more children under than the age of 15 in the Western Pacific Region than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, measles, meningitis, dengue and malaria combined. However, the greatest proportion of drowning deaths (34%) occurs among people aged 65 years and older, with men experiencing a greater burden of drowning than women.
In addition to the significant number of deaths, non-fatal drowning (where individuals are rescued and/or resuscitated) results in a substantial number of hospitalizations every year. Despite the magnitude and preventability of drowning, priority for action is limited in many low- and middle-income countries.
There are many actions to prevent drowning. Installing barriers (e.g. covering wells, using doorway barriers and playpens, fencing swimming pools etc.) to control access to water hazards, or removing water hazards entirely greatly reduces water hazard exposure and risk.
Community-based, supervised child care for pre-school children can reduce drowning risk and has other proven health benefits. Teaching school-age children basic swimming, water safety and safe rescue skills is another approach. But these efforts must be undertaken with an emphasis on safety, and an overall risk management that includes a safety-tested curricula, a safe training area, screening and student selection, and student-instructor ratios established for safety.
Effective policies and legislation are also important for drowning prevention. Setting and enforcing safe boating, shipping and ferry regulations is an important part of improving safety on the water and preventing drowning. Building resilience to flooding and managing flood risks through better disaster preparedness planning, land use planning, and early warning systems can prevent drowning during flood disasters.
Developing a national water safety strategy can raise awareness of safety around water, build consensus around solutions, provide strategic direction and a framework to guide multisectoral action and allow for monitoring and evaluation of efforts.
Since the launch of WHO's Global report on drowning preventing a leading killer in 2014 and the follow-up resource Preventing drowning: an implementation guide in 2017, WHO has been working to scale up advocacy and action for the prevention of drowning.
The Regional Status Report on Drowning in the Western Pacific provides countries with WHO-recommended best practices on drowning prevention interventions and policies, including day care for children, the use of barriers for controlling access to water, public awareness campaigns focused on behaviour change, and policies and legislation on water safety, including regulation of recreational boating and maritime transport.
At a regional level, WHO organizes training programmes and convenes workshops to draw together representatives of governments, NGOs and UN agencies working on drowning prevention.