How to prevent drowning, the leading cause of death for young children

Are you, your family members or your friends ready to dive into a pool, lake, river or other body of water to cool off from the summer heat? Before you do this, you may want to dig a little deeper into drowning statistics.

Deaths from drowning remain a significant – and in some cases worsening – problem worldwide. In the US, for example, drowning has resulted in more than 4,500 reported deaths each year between 2020 and 2022. according to a study published in the Center for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).. That’s an increase of 500 deaths per year from 2019. Yet the risks of drowning seem to remain deeply out of public consciousness – something Bloomberg Philanthropies has been trying to change since 2012.

“The problem of drowning has not received enough attention and is not fully recognized as a public health problem,” he explains Kelly Larson, the injury prevention leader at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Data on drownings is limited and drowning prevention is underfunded.”

And guess what: Drowning has disproportionately affected people in economically or socially disadvantaged communities, both in the US and around the world. Larson emphasized that “about 90% of drowning deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.” Yes, another public health problem where those who are already worse off have it even worse. So how can this situation be changed? Well, here are five ways:

1. Teach more people to swim.

Not surprisingly, not being able to swim increases the risk of drowning. And human children are not born to swim. You can’t just walk them into the water and expect them to be little Michael Phelps or Katie Ladeckys. Drowning has been the leading cause of death among one- to four-year-olds in the US for some time. According to the CDC. It is therefore possible that many children come into contact with too much water before they have learned to swim.

However, lack of swimming skills is not just a problem for young children. National surveys have shown that approximately 55% of adults in the US have never taken swimming lessons. And where are you more likely to encounter an adult who can’t swim? Surprise, surprise, economically or socially disadvantaged communities.

That’s why Bloomberg Philanthropies’ partnership with the CDC Foundation and CDC focuses on helping build basic swimming and water safety skills in the following 10 states with higher drowning deaths: Alaska, Arizona, California , Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. “These ten states are responsible for about half of all drowning deaths in the US,” he explains Kelly Larson, the injury prevention leader at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We have worked with the CDC, the CDC Foundation and community organizations to provide swimming instruction to 6- to 15-year-olds.” Bloomberg Philanthropies has also done similar work in Vietnam.

2. Keep a closer eye on children.

Children will be children. Without proper supervision, they can get into all kinds of trouble. And in this case, problems can mean water. “Children under the care of a community supervision program have an 88% lower risk of drowning.” Larson indicated. “It only takes a moment for someone to drown.” It also doesn’t take much water to drown. That’s why you need to keep track of what kids do around the water, even if they can swim. Well, a child who can already swim can still jump into water that is too turbulent or injure itself so much that it can no longer float.

However, it is not enough to simply tell parents to pay closer attention to their children. Parents don’t have 24-hour security cameras built into their heads and have to do other things like work, eat, sleep and bury their heads in their hands. As the saying goes, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ – suggesting that supervision must also be built into the surrounding community. That’s why the Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative is working with community partners like child care centers in Bangladesh to improve child care.

3. Protect and restrict access to swimming pools and other potential swimming areas.

Once again, children will be children. Unless you have each of them set up a 24-hour livestream YouTube channel of themselves, it’s virtually impossible to watch them every moment. Therefore, erecting barriers such as a four-sided pool fence that is adequately secured, in addition to supervision, can make it more difficult for children to get into trouble – i.e. water they should not yet be in. This was part of Bloomberg Philanthropies-supported work in the US and other countries.

4. Provide personal flotation devices and other safety equipment.

You can get by with a little help from a personal flotation device, which isn’t exactly how the Beatles song goes. But it applies to everyone, especially those who cannot yet swim confidently in all kinds of water conditions. It even applies to those who can already swim. As Larson emphasized, “Anyone can drown.” A change in water conditions, a little exhaustion or a little absent-mindedness can bring down even those who are quite good swimmers. So part of the work supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies is helping stock various swimming areas with personal flotation devices and other types of safety equipment.

5. Improve data collection.

While the above approaches can clearly help, drowning still remains a murky water situation in many ways. A big problem is a four-letter word that is supposed to be the opposite of dirty: data or the lack thereof. Trying to prevent drowning without enough data about why people drown, what the current risks are, and what interventions might work is like trying to win a football match without knowing the score or statistics. “One goal was to strengthen data collection and better understand the circumstances of drowning incidents,” Larson said. “And review state laws and policies that can prevent drowning.” This included improving data collection in LMICs such as Uganda and Ghana, as well as using more data to help develop strategies to tackle drowning problems. Larson added that this has already led to insights, such as the discovery that fishermen in some countries – that is, those who fish as a profession – are at greater risk of drowning.

More data can also help bring the problem of drowning to more public attention. Swimming pools and other bodies of water can be important refuges, especially during the heat waves of summer. But it is important to understand what risks lie beneath.