A placard held by a student during a protest after three civil services aspirants died due to drowning at a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar area, in New Delhi, on July 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The untold tragedy of three IAS aspirants who drowned to death in the basement of their coaching centre in New Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar, is a macabre reminder that anyone can drown, anywhere. Ironically, this grim but entirely preventable incident, which occurred due to callous negligence and lax regulations, took place two days after countries observed Drowning Prevention Day — a WHO led global event, held annually to raise awareness about this leading cause of death.
The world is drowning. Rising seas, maximum cities, spiralling poverty and risky livelihoods, 120 million forcibly displaced people, children who make perilous journeys to reach schools – all these conditions are colliding to make death by drowning a haunting and increasingly frequent occurrence. Studies have warned that in the not so distant future ravaged by cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis and floods, our exposure to water will amplify manifold. Most at risk will be children under 10 and adolescents who already account for half of all drowning deaths.
Drowning takes an intolerable toll on children everywhere. In Vietnam and Uganda, children are dying in rivers and lakes – water bodies that they enter unhindered, to bathe or play. In Florida, the state that bears the highest burden of drowning in USA, toddlers drown in swimming pools and hot tubs in their own homes. In India, the journey to school every morning could be a treacherous one – swimming across crocodile and snake infested rivers, trapped in a flash flood or a boat capsizing. In Bangladesh where 43% of child deaths are due to drowning, most children under 5 drown within 20 metres of their own homes. No drowning is the same. Just as little children may slip unnoticed in a village pond or bucket left unattended, adolescents and young adults, particularly males may drown while fishing, boating or under the influence of alcohol. Water transport accidents due to unsafe boats and lack of proper personal flotation devices, people trapped in cars during city floods, or women who may drown while drawing water from treacherous water sources because piped water is unavailable, are a few of the many ways in which drownings occur. Enmeshed in the daily fabric of people’s lives these incidents often do not get the same attention as the colossal tragedy of little Alan Kurdi’s drowning or the heart wrenching deaths of the El Salvadorian father Oscar Ramirez, and his 2 year old daughter Valeria.
Every hour of every day at least 42 people drown. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 236,000 lives are lost to drowning every year and almost 82,000 of them are children aged 1 to 14 years. Despite having a death toll equivalent to two thirds that of malnutrition and over half that of malaria, drowning remains a largely under reported and neglected public health issue. In fact experts fear that available statistics inadequately capture the full extent of the problem. A big reason for this data paucity is the way drowning deaths are counted, excluding incidents of intentional drowning (suicide or homicide) and drowning caused by water transport accidents including the massive toll of refugees and stateless people. Lives lost by drowning during natural disasters like flood or tsunami are not added to the global toll, even though at least 75% of deaths during floods are by drowning. WHO, which has been pushing for greater recognition of drowning as a public health crisis, recognises that adjusted data could reveal that the actual burden is four or five times higher than current estimates in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and over 50% in all countries, irrespective of income.
Amidst concerns that the burden of drowning deaths in today’s world, is comparable to the burden of measles and diarrhea in the 1970s and bleak predictions that more and more people are at risk of drowning, there has been a surge of political and public health commitment in the last decade. Drowning deaths as a major public health concern found voice on the global stage when WHO published the first ever Global Report on Drowning Prevention in 2014. Soon after an Implementation Framework was published, and several studies and pilot projects began in countries such as Viet Nam and Bangladesh. But the historic moment came in April 2021, when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on drowning prevention and called for worldwide action.
Several countries have adopted water safety plans, including Australia, Thailand and Vietnam. While Australia has focused its attention on its vast coastline and is promoting frontline water safety with surf lifesavers and lifeguards, Vietnam has prioritised swimming lessons for children. Bloomberg Philanthropies partnered with the Government of Vietnam for a national program on drowning which introduced the Swim-Safe curriculum. To graduate, a child must prove they can tread water for 30 seconds and swim unassisted in open water for at least 25 metres. Bangladesh, with its massive burden of child drowning deaths, has adopted a community-based model called “Anchal” in which childcare centres are set up to ensure institutional supervision of children aged 1-5 years. This simple model has led to 88% reduction of drowning deaths among children under four. In December 2023, India joined the club of drowning prevention crusaders with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare releasing a ‘Strategic Framework for Drowning Prevention.’ An estimated 38,000 Indians die of drowning every year. With its diverse topography, multiple climactic zones, and differing levels of access to basic services, particularly in remote areas where people face the multiple jeopardy of terrain, weather and income vulnerability, the Indian action plan would have to focus on robust data collection and a multi sectoral response that includes among many aspects, infrastructure, transport safety, access to education and health facilities, awareness etc.
People have always drowned but it is only recently the global public health community has been calling upon policymakers to view it through the lens of social inequity and not merely as accidental deaths. Global data tells us that 90% of all drowning deaths occur in LMICs. Even in economically developed countries, the poor and minority communities are more likely to die due to drowning. Like all public health crises, the drowning prevention journey will be a long one, requiring resources, systemic fixes and multi sectoral cooperation. Until then, a rapid response plan with low-cost solutions such as use of strategic barriers around water bodies, day care centres for pre-school children, teaching school age children basic swimming skills, making available safe water transport and floatation devices, could save lives every day.
Lopa Ghosh is Senior Communications Advisor at Global Health Advocacy Incubator and an author.
