The drowning claims the lives of at least 50 children a day and 18,000 children a year in the country, while the number of near-drowning incidents per year is over 68,000, a survey said, reports BSS.
"More fatal than diseases like, pneumonia, tuberculosis or polio, this hidden epidemic strikes the lives of at least 50 children per day and 18,000 children per year, while over 68,000 near-drowning incidents happen in the country," the Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey (BHIS) said.
The survey, conducted jointly by the government of Bangladesh, UNICEF, The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC) and Institute of Child and Mother Health (ICMH), defined drowning as death by submersion in water, regardless of how the submersion occurred- whether by flood, boat or ferry sinking or in a pond or other water body.
It's so swift that a child does not even have the chance to call out for help, and it is so routine that no family sees it as a potential threat. Drowning causes about 23 per cent of all child deaths from age one until age eighteen, particularly 26 per cent for age one to four.
According to the International Drowning Research Centre-Bangladesh (IDRC-B) drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury deaths.
The geography of our country has established water as a common feature in both rural and urban areas. Open water bodies like ponds and ditches are used for bathing, washing, drinking, agriculture, raising fish and for children to play in.
Drowning claims lives of 18,000 children a year
FE Team | Published: August 30, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: August 29, 2015 22:30:40
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