Hardly a day goes by in Bangladesh in which the media do not report a child’s death by drowning, with this year’s heavy monsoon rains only driving those numbers higher.
In the last week over a dozen deaths - all of them children aged 16 months to 11 years old - were reported. On 28 September alone, five children drowned in Kurigram, Gaibandha and Comilla districts.
But according to experts, this is just the tip of the iceberg in Bangladesh, a river delta nation of over 150 million inhabitants, with the actual number of fatalities several times greater than actually reported.
This year’s particularly heavy monsoon rains, which affected over 10.5 million people, saw an alarming increase in drowning deaths.
According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Bangladesh, there were 946 officially reported flood-related deaths since mid-August, with drowning accounting for 816 of them. Over 86 percent of all the deaths were due to drowning, and over 90 percent of these cases were children, mostly under five.
Study
In flood-prone Bangladesh, drowning is the single leading cause of death among children aged 1-17, having overtaken pneumonia and diarrhoea.
This was revealed in a comprehensive study of child deaths from injuries by the Institute of Child and Mother Health, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC).
The Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey (BHIS), 2003, was the first and most comprehensive effort ever made to gather accurate data on the burden of injury throughout Bangladesh. It is the largest injury survey ever conducted at community level in a developing country - with 171,366 households representing 819,429 infants, children and adults surveyed.
The BHIS found that drowning presented by far the greatest danger for those aged 1-9, with the death rate declining as the children grow older.
“The drowning death toll peaks at one year old. It falls steeply once children reach the age of five years. The reason for this is clear: by then they learn to swim,” Shumona, explained.
The survey also revealed a clear seasonal pattern for drowning. The death rate rises steeply during the summer monsoon season when rainfall is high and shallow ditches and natural holes are frequently filled with flood water.
According to the BHIS, in Bangladesh nearly 17,000 children drown annually, an average of around 46 each day. At the same time, about four times this number nearly drowns - over 68,000 cases of near-drowning a year are being reported.
Most deaths happen very close to home. Three quarters of all child drownings take place in water less than 20 metres from the house, while the youngest usually die in water less than 10 metres away.
All water can be dangerous. Rivers, lakes and ponds claim many lives. Even greater numbers die in drainage ditches or puddles and in household water containers such as tubs, buckets and water drums, the survey said.
Lack of supervision
“In about two thirds of instances when children drowned they were alone or accompanied by another child who was not capable of rescuing them,” Dr Shumona pointed out.
“Busy mothers with a large family, a home and many children to care for are often unable to watch over the little ones. At the time of the drowning incident, most mothers or caregivers were involved either in household activities or were working outside. Lack of adequate supervision turns out to be the key contributor to these preventable deaths,” she explained.
Drowning is preventable
In an effort to address this, UNICEF is working closely with the government of Bangladesh, TASC and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh, to reduce the number of child deaths by drowning and other injuries.
The partnership includes establishing community crèches, providing Swim for Life lessons, tracking incidences of injury, as well as hosting meetings to discuss specific injury deaths and finding ways to prevent them.
UNICEF also raises community awareness about safety issues, through courtyard meetings and house-to-house visits that emphasise the use of simple injury prevention tools.
“Bangladesh is in a position to pioneer child injury interventions which will save the lives, and the future, of millions of children,” UNICEF representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault told IRIN. He said that unless the issue is addressed, Bangladesh would not be able to meet its Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of children who die each year.
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In the last week over a dozen deaths - all of them children aged 16 months to 11 years old - were reported. On 28 September alone, five children drowned in Kurigram, Gaibandha and Comilla districts.
But according to experts, this is just the tip of the iceberg in Bangladesh, a river delta nation of over 150 million inhabitants, with the actual number of fatalities several times greater than actually reported.
This year’s particularly heavy monsoon rains, which affected over 10.5 million people, saw an alarming increase in drowning deaths.
According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Bangladesh, there were 946 officially reported flood-related deaths since mid-August, with drowning accounting for 816 of them. Over 86 percent of all the deaths were due to drowning, and over 90 percent of these cases were children, mostly under five.
Study
In flood-prone Bangladesh, drowning is the single leading cause of death among children aged 1-17, having overtaken pneumonia and diarrhoea.
This was revealed in a comprehensive study of child deaths from injuries by the Institute of Child and Mother Health, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC).
The Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey (BHIS), 2003, was the first and most comprehensive effort ever made to gather accurate data on the burden of injury throughout Bangladesh. It is the largest injury survey ever conducted at community level in a developing country - with 171,366 households representing 819,429 infants, children and adults surveyed.
The BHIS found that drowning presented by far the greatest danger for those aged 1-9, with the death rate declining as the children grow older.
“The drowning death toll peaks at one year old. It falls steeply once children reach the age of five years. The reason for this is clear: by then they learn to swim,” Shumona, explained.
 Photo: David Swanson/IRIN  |
| A young child stands in the stagnant waters of this year's flood in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. Children are at serious risk of drowning in the flood-prone nation |
According to the BHIS, in Bangladesh nearly 17,000 children drown annually, an average of around 46 each day. At the same time, about four times this number nearly drowns - over 68,000 cases of near-drowning a year are being reported.
Most deaths happen very close to home. Three quarters of all child drownings take place in water less than 20 metres from the house, while the youngest usually die in water less than 10 metres away.
All water can be dangerous. Rivers, lakes and ponds claim many lives. Even greater numbers die in drainage ditches or puddles and in household water containers such as tubs, buckets and water drums, the survey said.
Lack of supervision
“In about two thirds of instances when children drowned they were alone or accompanied by another child who was not capable of rescuing them,” Dr Shumona pointed out.
“Busy mothers with a large family, a home and many children to care for are often unable to watch over the little ones. At the time of the drowning incident, most mothers or caregivers were involved either in household activities or were working outside. Lack of adequate supervision turns out to be the key contributor to these preventable deaths,” she explained.
Photo: UNICEF Bangladesh |
| A young boy swims alone on the outskirts of flood-affected Dhaka city |
In an effort to address this, UNICEF is working closely with the government of Bangladesh, TASC and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh, to reduce the number of child deaths by drowning and other injuries.
The partnership includes establishing community crèches, providing Swim for Life lessons, tracking incidences of injury, as well as hosting meetings to discuss specific injury deaths and finding ways to prevent them.
UNICEF also raises community awareness about safety issues, through courtyard meetings and house-to-house visits that emphasise the use of simple injury prevention tools.
“Bangladesh is in a position to pioneer child injury interventions which will save the lives, and the future, of millions of children,” UNICEF representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault told IRIN. He said that unless the issue is addressed, Bangladesh would not be able to meet its Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of children who die each year.
sa/ds/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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