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Abstract
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Proceedings of the 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (Safety 2022)
Background Drowning has been identified as one of the leading cause of death specially among children after infancy in Bangladesh. Since 2003, a number of initiatives have been taken to reduce the drowning burden in government, non-government and other sectors. High quality research, engaging advocacy, effective networking, and high impact publications on childhood drowning prevention make Bangladesh a champion in LMICs.
Aims The objective of this paper is to highlight the efforts and achievements in addressing the childhood drowning problem in Bangladesh and showcasing successes to other countries of similar context.
Methods An extensive literature review, both scientific articles and gray reports, was conducted to retrieve relevant information for the study
Results A number of research works on childhood drowning prevention unveil the magnitude of the problem, it's risk factors, possible solutions and implementation strategy. Two interventions - Anchal (community crèche) and SwimSafe (survival swimming teaching to children) were identified effective and cost-effective in preventing childhood drowning. All these interventions identified were also clearly recognized and accepted by World Health Organization and included in the World Report on drowning prevention. Drowning prevention has been included in the priority agenda in the health sector program.
Conclusions Bangladesh becomes the champion in addressing childhood drowning problem. Community driven crèches for child supervision and swimming learning methods for low resource setting has been identified as effective interventions for child drowning prevention. Bangladesh also demonstrated an efficient pathway to translate the research into policy actions for a neglected public health issue like childhood drowning.
Learning Outcomes All other countries with similar contexts could follow the Bangladesh model in their own countries to save their children from unnecessary deaths from drowning.
Language: en |