WHO Report on Drowning Prevention in Asia-Pacific

July 23, 2021

WHO on 23^rd July launched its first Regional Status Report on Drowning Prevention in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions. This report said that nearly two-thirds of all global deaths due to drowning occur in the Asia Pacific region.

Highlights

Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury and death worldwide and it accounts for 7% of all injury-related deaths.
This report by WHO states that Middle and low income countries account for more than 90% of all the unintentional drowning deaths in the world. Also over 50% of the world’s total drowning occurs in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions.
In 48 of the 85 countries which have data on drowning, it is among the top five causes of death for children who are under the 15 years of age.
Drowning accounts for 75% of all deaths during flood disasters. Many countries in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions are vulnerable to this form of disaster.
These reports provide knowhow’s related to status of water safety and drowning prevention n each of the regions.
This report shows a clear picture of the problems and the efforts that are underway address drowning related morbidity and mortality.
In the year 2019, more than 1,44,000 people had drowned in the Asia Pacific region which accounts for 61% of all global drowning deaths.
Around 70,000 and 74,000 deaths in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions respectively occurred due to drowning. Of the 70,000 drowning related deaths more than 33% were among children who were aged less than 15 years.
On an average, men were more likely to drown than women.

Conclusion

Through, strong leadership, coordination and ongoing planning, evaluation and monitoring can drowning in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions be reduced.

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