The WHO analyzes in its first world report on drowning one of the leading causes of death in the world. Children under 5 are particularly at risk.
Every year, 372,000 people drown in the world – that’s 42 every hour. Drowning is one of the top ten causes of death on earth. To prevent populations, the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to produce a report, the first in the field.
Children, men, poor
We learn that drowning primarily affects the youngest: more than half of those drowned are under 25, and drowning rates are highest among children under five. Another observation: men are twice as likely as women to drown.
Most drownings (90%) occur in low- and middle-income countries, with the highest rates in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. The report does not take into account drownings motivated by suicide or homicide, nor those following an accident such as the capsizing of a ferry. Despite everything, according to the WHO, the figures relating to drownings remain underestimated in some countries.
Learn to swim and rescue
The UN agency hammers it: States are not powerless. “Drowning is a preventable cause of death. National and local authorities must implement the simple preventive measures proposed by WHO, ”writes Margaret Chan, WHO Director General.
The report lists the measures that could change the situation and prevent thousands of people from sinking in the waters of the planet. “Install barriers to limit access to water bodies; teach swimming basics and first aid maneuvers; improve safety regulations on board pleasure craft, merchant ships and ferries… ”.
Bathtubs, bucket, sewer …
The report also underlines the need to integrate drowning prevention into several debates on topical issues, such as climate change, which leads to an increase in the number of floods, or mass migration, in particular the issue asylum seekers traveling in boats.
“I think it’s impossible to take charge of what you can’t measure. And we have never yet undertaken to measure the extent of the drowning problem in the world, ”said Michael R. Bloomberg, former mayor of New York and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which funded the report.
Etienne Krug, co-author of the report, recalls that “almost any body of water represents a risk. Drowning is an accident of everyday life that can occur in a bathtub, bucket, pond, stream, sewer or even a swimming pool ”.
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