DANANG, Vietnam--12 May--Medianet International-AsiaNet/ InfoQuest
Key research released today at the International Life Saving Federation's World Conference on Drowning Prevention shows child drowning in Asia could be dramatically reduced by 80 per cent.
Approximately 300,000 children drown in Asia every year.
The findings come after four years of collaborative research between Royal Life Saving Society - Australia, The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC), the Centre for Injury Prevention Research Bangladesh (CIPRB) and UNICEF.
"Drowning disproportionately affects children, low income and less adaptive populations. Research and surveys continually show us that drowning has reached epidemic proportions in many Asian countries and is the leading killer of children post-infancy in many nations," said Dr Steve Beerman, President of the International Life Saving Federation (ILS).
Dr Michael Linnan, Technical Director for TASC: "Drowning kills more children than tuberculosis, more than HIV, more than malaria, and more than tetanus, whooping cough and polio combined," he said at the conference today.
Drowning deaths climb dramatically from less that 20 per 100,000 for infants to over 100 deaths per 100,000 for children aged 1-2 across Asia and remains significantly high for children into their teenage years.
The study shows a lack of adult supervision is the main contributing factor for children aged 1-4. CIPRB, TASC and Royal Life Saving Society - Australia, developed a community creche programme (Anchal) to provide children with a safe environment during the busiest times for parents.
Research shows that the Anchal programme had a fourfold reduction in child drowning rates compared to children who did not attend Anchal.
For children aged 5-12 years, the SwimSafe programme teaches swimming and water skills and has a five-fold reduction in child drowning rates compared to children who did not attend SwimSafe.
Dr Linnan stressed that drowning in low and middle income countries can be reduced and interventions should be rolled out on a regional level.
For all media enquiries please contact:
Matthew Smeal
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SOURCE: Royal Life Saving Society - Australia
AsiaNet 44571
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