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Abstract
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Bucket-associated drowning in unattended infants and toddlers is not an uncommon occurrence; although, it remains largely unrecognized and under-reported. There is a scarcity of published reports in medical journals on these largely preven- table deaths in India.
We performed a descriptive analysis by internet search of news reports in well- known Indian newspapers to gather infor- mation on such deaths by using different combinations of key- words. National crime record bureau (NCRB) of Indian Police, and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India Websites were also assessed for available data.
From April, 2016 to March, 2022, there were 18 drowning reports at home that resulted in fatalities across India. On Pubmed search, we found a population based study, where two babies both aged 1.5 years under care of mothers drowned in water storage vessels and a 1-year-old boy who nearly drowned in concentrated sugar syrup (chashni) made at marriage home. Thus, data on a total of 20 drowning deaths at home were extracted. We excluded drowning deaths occurring anywhere except buckets/water storage vessels occurring in home environments.
Majority (65%) of victims were boys aged 12-18 months, and most (85%) were playing unattended. Two babies were fetching water from a storage vessel to drink and, remaining one case involved bathing by a toddler sibling not supervised by elders. Studies from other countries have also reported bucket- associated drowning death being a common problem, wherever buckets are used for water storage at home.
Language: en |