Vietnam looks to reduce child drownings by 20 percent by 2030

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the first resolution on global drowning prevention in April and selected July 25 this year as the start of the annual ‘World Drowning Prevention Day’. The theme of this first year is “Anyone can drown, no one should”.

To mark the first Day, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) of the US held a discussion on July 23, stressing the serious consequences that drowning causes to families and the community and calling for multi-sectoral coordination to implement life-saving solutions.

Drowning claims the lives of 2,000 children each year

The UN General Assembly resolution emphasises the substantial impact of drowning on not only the safety and lives of people but also on the sustainable development of each country.

Over the last decade, more than 2.5 million people around the world lost their lives to drowning, equivalent to about 236,000 deaths each year. Drowning is one of the 10 leading causes of death for children aged 5 - 14. More than 90 percent of drowning cases, excluding deaths in waterway traffic accidents and natural disasters, happen in middle- and low-income countries.

In Vietnam, the number of child drowning cases has been reduced by an average of 100 each year since 2016. While this may seem like an encouraging outcome initially, the fact remains that drowning is still the leading cause of death for children in the country.

Data from 2020 shows that there are still about 2,000 children aged below 16 dying from drowning each year.

To aid drowning prevention, evidence-based interventions pertinent to Vietnam, such as teaching swimming and water skills, have been carried out.

With financial support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and technical assistance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US-based GHAI Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the child drowning prevention programme has provided swimming safety skills for nearly 14,000 children aged 6 – 15. It has also provided water safety skills for more than 30,200 children in eight provinces with the highest rates of child drowning.

Additionally, the programme has created documents that teach swimming-safety and water-safety skills for children and distributed them nationwide.

GHAI Country Director Doan Thu Huyen said it is proud to play its part in implementing this meaningful programme that has helped protect children from drowning.

GHAI hopes to share the programme’s experiences so that they can be learned nationwide. This will need support from local authorities, families and the community, she said.

Improving safety skills for children

The branch of the legal system that oversees child drowning prevention and control in Vietnam has been improved in recent years.

On July 19, 2021, the Prime Minister issued Decision 1248/QD-TTg that approved the programme on child accident and injury prevention for the 2021 - 2030 period. This programme looks to reduce the number of child drowning by 20 percent and apply evidence-based interventions such as teaching swimming safety skills and water safety skills across the country.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha said preventing child drowning is one of the top priorities in the national action plan on child accident and injury prevention.

“We have been coordinating closely with relevant ministries, sectors and local administrations to carry out measures that ensure a safe living environment, prevent child accidents and injuries, and prevent child drowning,” she noted.

WHO Representative in Vietnam Kidong Park said the Government and its partners have implemented solutions to reduce drowning, but it is also necessary to improve each family’s awareness to protect their children from drowning.

Each family in Vietnam can help prevent drowning by monitoring their children, teaching them swimming and water safety skills and creating a safe environment for children to prevent them from accessing open waters unattended.

Anyone can drown, but drowning is completely preventable and everyone has the responsibility for preventing it, he added./.