Every year, worldwide, 236,000 people die from drowning. That’s more than 650 people each day or one every two minutes.
Those statistics were revealed by Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony in his message on World Prevention Drowning Day 2021 which will be observed for the first time by Guyana and other countries on Sunday, July 25.
Locally, the minister said too many people – including Guyanese – die from drowning which he said is a “preventable cause of death”.
Commenting on additional statistics, the minister pointed out that drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death and accounts for seven percent of all injury-related deaths in the world.
Dr. Anthony further noted that the highest rate of drowning deaths occurs among children, one to four years old, followed by children, five to nine years old. He described drowning as an “almost completely neglected health risk”.
“Drowning is a preventable cause of death, yet too many people die each year from drowning, including Guyanese. As we observe the first-ever World Drowning Prevention Day on July 25th, we request that people turn on a blue light, on Sunday evening to signal our commitment to stop drowning in Guyana,” the minister said.
Recognizing that drowning is a risk, Dr. Anthony said the Ministry of Health has this year embarked on a national program to make people aware of prevention methods and actions to reduce and eliminate drowning in Guyana.
“Drowning is preventable and, therefore, is a worthy area of focus. Our goal is that the subsequent potential drowning death must not occur in Guyana,” he said.
Guyana’s chief medical officer has been instructed to prepare a National Drowning Prevention Plan for Guyana, the minister revealed.
He added that among the drowning prevention initiatives that the Ministry of Health, in partnership with community groups and non-governmental organisations, will pursue are the following:
• installing barriers controlling access to water
• providing safe places away from water such as crèches for pre-school children with capable childcare
• teaching swimming, water safety and safe rescue skills
• training bystanders in safe rescue and resuscitation
• setting and enforcing safe boating, shipping and ferry regulations
• improving flood risk management
“As part of our prevention effort, the National Commission on the Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases will begin a TV and Social Media Campaign to highlight the danger of drowning and raise awareness of water risks. In particular, efforts will be made to provide teachers with information to make water safety education a part of the curriculum in Guyana,” the minister further disclosed.
