Drowning accidents in children: A wake-up call

On hot summer days, children often go swimming in swimming pools, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Due to lack of skills and not being aware of the dangers, they are very susceptible to drowning. In the context of the high rate of child deaths due to drowning in our country, it is necessary to develop programs and propose solutions to prevent drowning.

Danger always lurks

Although the incident happened nearly 3 years ago, Ngo Thi Nhu Quynh, an 8B student at Trang Viet Secondary School, Trang Viet Commune, Me Linh District, Hanoi, still cannot forget the image of her 6 female friends dying from drowning. That day, at around 12 noon on September 2, 2011, Quynh went to her friend Yen's house to attend a birthday party. After the party, Quynh and her friends went to the riverbank to bathe, and then had an accident. "Sitting on the bank, I saw my friends gradually sinking... About an hour later, the aunts and uncles in the village pulled them up, but sadly, all 6 of them had stopped breathing. They suddenly passed away, leaving their parents, siblings, friends, and villagers in horror and immense grief," Quynh said sadly.

Teaching children to swim is one of the effective measures to prevent drowning accidents. Photo: Son Ha

According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, drowning has decreased compared to 2010, but is still high, especially in the summer. Our country has the highest drowning death rate in Southeast Asia, 10 times higher than developed countries. In 2012, more than 3,300 children and adolescents died from drowning, an average of 9 children and adolescents died from drowning every day. More than 50% of drowning cases occurred outdoors when children were swimming in ponds, lakes, rivers, streams and the sea without an adult accompanying them. Many cases of children dying from drowning were very heartbreaking, such as the case of 4 children in Phu Do village, Me Tri ward, Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi, who lost their lives because they were swimming in a "pond" at a construction site, without anyone watching, and without warning signs; Eight students from An My Secondary School, My Duc District, Hanoi died while swimming in Tuy Lai Lake; two students from Van Noi Primary School, Dong Anh District, Hanoi, went fishing and died in a large puddle of water at a construction site near their home...

Mr. Doan Mau Diep, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that the main causes of drowning incidents are the carelessness and negligence of adults and the lack of swimming knowledge and skills of children. On the other hand, the community's awareness of drowning accidents in children is still very limited. "We need to sound the alarm about the situation of child drowning, warn parents to pay attention, equip children with knowledge and skills of safety in the water environment; remind their children to be careful when going to ponds and lakes; especially, remind them not to bathe in ponds, lakes, rivers without adults accompanying them" - Mr. Doan Mau Diep emphasized.

Which solution is effective?

Children drowning can happen right in the environment near home, in school or in public places. To limit this situation, the Prime Minister issued Decision 2158/QD-TTg on preventing and combating child injuries in the period 2013-2015. Accordingly, by 2015, the number of children dying from drowning will be reduced by 15% compared to 2010; at least 50% of primary school children and 70% of secondary school children will know how to swim and have self-rescue skills; At least 70% of children use life jackets or life jackets when participating in waterway traffic... The National Traffic Safety Committee, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union launched a nationwide action program "For children's safety on water", implemented for 3 years (2013-2015) to raise awareness, consciousness and responsibility of each individual and community in preventing and fighting drowning... Most recently, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs coordinated with the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, World Vision, and UNICEF to launch a campaign to prevent and fight child drowning.

At the seminar on sharing experiences and solutions for drowning prevention organized by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs recently in Hanoi, experts in the field of drowning prevention said that in order to reduce the death rate due to drowning, it is necessary to synchronously deploy many solutions such as: Strengthening propaganda, improving knowledge and skills for drowning prevention; building a safe living environment for children; popularizing first aid skills for drowning children for the grassroots health network and the team of collaborators protecting and caring for children in the community; strengthening measures for waterway traffic safety; maintaining summer activities and child management during the summer. In which, the family is the most important factor, children need the attention and care of the family, especially the need to teach and practice safe swimming knowledge for them from a young age...

According to Hanoi Moi Online