Even as drowning is among the top 10 leading causes of death for children and young adults worldwide,  the statistics around drowning paint a stark picture in India, with official figures citing 30,000 annual drowning deaths while experts suggest the actual toll could exceed 100,000, particularly those aged 5 to 14 years being at higher risk.

Rear Admiral (retired) P D Sharma, Founder President of Rashtriya Life Saving Society (RLSS (India)), believes the actual numbers are much higher, particularly in rural areas where water bodies are often unattended and accidents go unnoticed until it's too late. “There are many water bodies that are unattended, far from habitation and a drowning goes unnoticed till it is too late. It takes barely 3 to 5 minutes for a person to drown and die.”

Dr. Tej Prakash Sinha, Additional Professor at Emergency Medicine Department, JPNACT, AIIMS Delhi, and Co-Director WHO Collaborating Centre for Emergency and Trauma Care (WHOCCETC), Delhi, too feel that drowning is an important public health issue but remains invisible.

“Somehow there was not much advocacy because according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) annual drowning deaths are only around 38,000. But death among young age groups is huge. We need to address this. A framework to address this issue was launched last year by the Ministry.”

Worldover, about 236,000 lives which can be 350 per day or 26 every hour, are lost due to drowning,  said Saima Wazed, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for South East Asia on the occasion of World Drowning Day on Thursday.

“In 2019, drowning claimed 70,034 lives in the South-East Asia Region, making it the second-highest contributor to drowning deaths worldwide,” said the Regional Director.

The theme for World Drowning Prevention Day this year, 'Anyone can drown, no one should', emphasizes the importance of education, vigilance, and infrastructure improvements to mitigate this preventable tragedy.

Lopa Ghosh, Lead Consultant, India Communications  from Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) too felt that there is an urgent need to build local capacity to educate the key stakeholders, the public and media about the problem of drowning, effective interventions and the need to fund them. “We are working with  governments around the world to test and implement proven drowning prevention interventions.”

“Access and availability of safe spaces like Anganwadis, government-provided care centres for children under six will prevent drowning deaths of children. “Secondly safe storage of water and barricading access to it where necessary will also help. This will require sustained efforts and behavioural change. To tackle drowning deaths due to floods and followed waterlogging, event recovery and rehabilitative measures are very important. State specific policies can be targeted to coastal, low-lying and wetland regions where interventions are required,” said Dr Jagnoor Jagnoor, from The George Institute for Global Health and Senior Research Fellow, Injury Program Senior Research Fellow, Injury Program, Head, India Injury Division and Co-director, WHOCCETC.

 To address the drowning problem, India  last year unveiled the ‘Strategic Framework for Drowning Prevention’ in India.