By Justina Asishana, reporting from Thailand
135,585 children under 15 years lose their lives each year globally from drowning and has been rated the leading cause of death and disability adjusted years among children under 15.
The Vice Governor of Surat Thani Province in Thailand, Mrs. Jamjit Poolsawadee gave this statistics during her opening remarks at the Merit Maker Field Trip as part of the activities of the 13th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion.
According to her, 9,547 children in Thailand had died from drowning in the last ten years as the nation records three deaths per day and 957 incidents of drowning deaths among children each year.
Jamjit said that the water bodies and sources with the highest drowning were natural water bodies which are followed by bathtubs and swimming pools adding that the high rate of death recorded by drowning led the government of Thailand to develop a drowning prevention strategy program called Merit Maker.
She stated that the Merit Maker drowning prevention covers all ten elements that are important measures for preventing drowning which include policy, management, situation and date, risky water body management, child development center operations, knowledge dissemination, survival swimming training, CPR training, public communications and research/evaluation.
The Vice Governor also disclosed that with the introduction of the drowning prevention program, drowning incidents rate had decreased to more than 50 per cent as 708 incidents were recorded in 2017 as against the 957 deaths experienced yearly in the past.
The Deputy Director General of the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health in Thailand, Dr. Asadang Ruayajin while giving an overview of the National Merit Maker drowning prevention program said that drowning in under-five children have been discovered to occur due to negligence of parents while in older children, it occurs when they are playing in the water.
A typical pre-school in Thailand where pre-sechool children are being taught drowning preventionHe said that survey carried out indicated that several children tend to drown because they lack the knowledge of water safety and correct rescue procedures which the Merit Maker program seek to address.
Ruayajin said that drowning prevention measures should cover risk factors related to both personal and environmental aspects stressing that only one measure or action cannot properly deal with the problem.
He urged government at all level to develop a national water safety plan and strengthen public awareness of drowning through strategic communications.
In his address, an official of the World Health Organization, Dr. David Meddings called for more attention to be given to drowning as all countries across the world have drowning problems especially between ages one to 15.
He lauded the Thailand government for implementing the Merit Maker program which has gone a long way to reduce deaths from drowning in the country.
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