Believe it or not, as many as 3.72 lakh people die every year globally by drowning. This death toll is over half that of malaria, says World Health Organisation's first Global report on 'Drowning: preventing a leading killer'.
But unlike malaria, there are no broad prevention efforts that results into drowning, says the report that aims to galvanise attention and action by highlighting how preventable drowning is. According to an estimate, worldwide malaria kills 6.27 lakh people annually.
Counted among the ten leading causes of death for children and young people, every hour, every day, more than 40 people lose their lives to drowning with those under 5 years at greatest risk. Males seem to be more at risk as their numbers are twice when compared to females.
“Income levels also have an impact. Majority of drowning happens in low-and middle-income countries like India and Pakistan where people have close daily contact with water for work, transport and agriculture,” says the report.
WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, in a statement, said that drowning is a needless loss of life. Action must be taken by national and local governments to put in place the simple preventive measures articulated by the WHO.
At the community level, it suggests installing barriers to control access to water; providing safe places such as day care centres for children, teaching children basic swimming skills and training bystanders in safe rescue and resuscitation.
At national level, interventions include adoption of improved boating, shipping and ferry regulations, better flood risk management and comprehensive water safety policies.
According to a number of studies from high-income countries, deaths due to drowning may be considerably underestimated. Official data do not include drowning from suicide, homicide, flood disasters or incidents such as ferry capsizes.