Bangladesh's drowning prevention efforts praised

The World Health Organization (WHO) offered several reasons for choosing Ghana as the venue for launching the upcoming global report outlining what member states should do to prevent drowning.

One reason is that this West African country has a disproportionately high drowning rate relative to its population. Another is to highlight what African policymakers are doing to tackle this major cause of preventable death.

Policymakers, researchers and development practitioners from around the world gathered in Accra, the capital of Ghana, for a three-day international conference to explore what works in preventing drowning.

At various sessions of the conference, organised by the World Health Organization (WHO), one country's name came up repeatedly—Bangladesh.

The reason is that the two community-based interventions now recongnised globally as the most effective measures for preventing drowning were first proven effective on a large scale in Bangladesh.

25 July marks World Drowning Prevention Day. This year's theme is "Unite to turn the tide." The global report launched at the conference presents seven strategies for drowning prevention and emphasises the need for coordinated, multisectoral action.

Bangladesh's experience was highlighted in many of the presentations as a model for other countries. Ironically, however, while the world is now looking to Bangladesh's experience for guidance, the initiatives have repeatedly stalled within Bangladesh itself due to a lack of political and administrative continuity.

At least two of the most effective strategies for drowning prevention were developed by the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB).

In 2005, a study by CIPRB found that children aged two to five years account for the highest number of drowning deaths in Bangladesh.

Most of these incidents occur between 9:00am and 2:00pm, when parents are busy with work and children are left unsupervised.

The study demonstrated that keeping children in community-based daycare centres during these hours and making nearby water bodies safe by fencing or installing barriers could significantly reduce drowning deaths.

Based on this evidence, the World Health Organization (WHO) incorporated these two interventions into its Global Technical Package for Drowning Prevention.

CIPRB successfully implemented these interventions in 51 unions across Bangladesh. It established a total of 3,205 community daycare centres, reaching 116,054 children aged 9 to 47 months. During the implementation period, the rate of child drowning in those intervention areas declined significantly.

UNICEF supported CIPRB's evidence-based research. However, the initiative did not continue because it received no further government support. Even so, many countries around the world have drawn on Bangladesh's experience in developing their own drowning prevention programmes.

One of the participants at the conference in Ghana was Onyum Charles Okao, Media and Communications Consultant at the international organisation Global Health Incubator. Although he has never visited Bangladesh, the Ugandan national first learned about the country while working on drowning prevention.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said, “In Bangladesh, children aged two to five are the biggest victims of drowning. The situation is different in Uganda. Here, children in that age group account for 11 per cent of drowning deaths, while people aged 15 to 30 account for 38 per cent. However, when we started our work in Uganda, Bangladesh's experience played an extraordinary role in building our knowledge base.”

Huyen Doan, a representative of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) in Vietnam, said, “There is much the world can learn from Bangladesh's experience in preventing drowning deaths. That was one of the key lessons that emerged from our discussions."

She said that eight years ago, around 2,000 children aged between six and nine drowned every year in Vietnam. Now, the national drowning rate has fallen by 10 per cent. In the areas where their programme is being implemented, the rate has declined by 16 per cent.

In the Indian state of West Bengal, drowning—particularly child drowning—remains a major public health problem. Although there is no comprehensive government survey, data from non-governmental organisations suggest that more than 9,000 children drown there every year. The Sundarbans region is considered the most at risk.

Meghendra Banerjee, Chief Programme Officer of the Child in Need Institute (CINI), which works on child safety in West Bengal, told Prothom Alo, “Bangladesh’s experience in preventing drowning has now become a global issue. We have learned a great deal from Bangladesh. We have also drawn on the experiences of other Indian states. However, there is no reason to overlook Bangladesh’s achievements.”

Despite receiving international recognition, Bangladesh has failed to maintain continuity in its drowning prevention efforts.

At a time when drowning deaths had reached alarming levels, the Bangladesh Shishu Academy, under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, launched the Integrated Community-Based Centre for Child Care, Protection and Swim-Safe Facilities (ICBC) project. The first phase of the project ran from 2022 to 2025 across 45 upazilas in 16 districts.

Several non-governmental organisations were assigned to implement the project. According to the project evaluation report, each organisation worked with 25,000 children. The report found that child deaths in those programme areas were almost negligible.

In May this year, Minister for Women and Children Affairs AZM Zahid Hossain told Prothom Alo that the project would be relaunched in 30 districts by adding 14 more districts to the existing coverage.

Al-Amin Bhuiya, a researcher at the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB), told Prothom Alo that drowning prevention cannot succeed if treated as an isolated initiative of a single ministry or department.

Instead, he said, it requires a coordinated effort involving all relevant ministries, including health, local government, education, women and children affairs, and other related agencies.