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Abstract
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The public health impacts of disasters are expected to increase as the climate continues to change. Drowning is a leading cause of death during floods and cyclones. Other extreme weather events lead to drowning among fishers, ferry passengers, and migrants, and heatwaves and drought are also associated with increased incidences of drowning.
A growing recognition of the roles of health systems in global policies on climate change, and the establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund2
necessitate greater action on drowning prevention as a key strategy for climate change adaptation. A public health approach to drowning prevention offers multiple opportunities to synergistically benefit climate change risk reduction and drowning prevention.
The need to accelerate action to prevent drowning has been recognised by WHO and the UN in World Health Assembly and General Assembly resolutions, respectively, in the past 3 years. One of the ten priorities to address drowning in the UN General Assembly Resolution is to "encourage integration of drowning prevention within existing disaster risk reduction programmes" and to identify links between the global effort to prevent drowning and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.5
Additionally, WHO urges those working at national and community levels to prevent drowning to "build resilience and manage flood risks and other hazards locally and nationally",6
yet there remains a disconnect between the two fields.
Despite these acknowledgments and drowning being a major cause of death in water-related disasters, specific references to drowning remain conspicuously absent in the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR). Within the Sendai Framework and much UN guidance on DRR, there are no mentions of drowning prevention, either as a targeted outcome or as an indicator for monitoring and evaluation. The Executive Action Plan for Early Warnings for All announced by the UN Secretary General mentions health only in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (good health and well-being) and its subsequent progress report has no reference to drowning.7
These documents miss an opportunity to reinforce DRR efforts by connecting them with directly related public health benefits, such as drowning prevention.
Language: en |