The World Health Organization (WHO) has singled out drowning as an “unrecognized threat to health” that has claims thousands of lives in Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions every year.
WHO said based on the Regional Status Report on Drowning in the Western Pacific and Regional Status Report on Drowning in South East Asia, some 74,000 lives are claimed by drowning in the Western Pacific and 70,000 in Southeast Asia as of 2019.
The WHO said extreme weather events, which can lead to intense floods increase the exposure of populations to potentially hazardous interactions with water.
“Despite many lives being lost each year, drowning remains a largely unrecognized threat to health and well-being,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO regional director for Southeast Asia. “We need to work across all sectors to develop national water safety plans and policies and implement tested and low-cost water safety interventions to prevent drowning and save lives. No child or adult should lose their life to drowning.”
Based on the latest death statistics from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), an average of 3,405 Filipinos drowned between 2015 and 2019.
Preliminary data showed that for 2020, a lower number of Filipinos, at 2,753, died of accidental drowning and submersion. This represented a 16.45- percent decline from the 3,295 Filipinos who died of drowning in 2019.
Between 2015 and 2019, the highest number of Filipinos who died of accidental drowning or submersion was at 3,810, which was recorded in 2017.
The Office of Civil Defense-National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (OCD-NDRRMC) earlier reported that there were 22 tropical cyclones, flash floods, and inter-tropical convergence zones that occurred in 2017.
“Climate change, to which the Asia Pacific region is particularly vulnerable, places already vulnerable communities and individuals at increased drowning risk,” WHO said in a news statement.
Of the 70,000 drowning deaths in Southeast Asia Region in 2019, more than 33 percent were among children aged under 15 years. On average, men were three to four times more likely to drown than women.
In the Western Pacific Region, older people accounted for 34 percent of drowning deaths in 2019. Men are at higher risk than women in 2019 as 66 percent of drowning deaths in the region were among men.
In Southeast Asia, the WHO said the impact of drowning and effective approaches to its prevention differ across and within countries.
While some governments have well-developed water safety strategies and well-established national mechanisms for drowning prevention, other countries are at an early stage of developing and expanding drowning prevention interventions.
In the Western Pacific Region there was a wide range of drowning prevention interventions. Some 14 nations provide child care/child supervision programs to keep children safe from water.
Another 17 countries teach children water safety skills while 19 countries teach bystanders safe rescue and resuscitation. All countries also have early warning systems for disaster risk reduction preparedness.