686 children drowned last year
Some 833 people drowned last year and 82 percent (686) of them were children, said SoMaSHTe--a non-government organisation-- yesterday in a consultation meeting with senior journalists from different national media houses at The Daily Star Centre.
Society for Media and Suitable Human Communication Techniques [SoMaSHTe] found 467 drowning incidents published in the media from January 2020 to January 2021.
SoMaSHTe found, 281 were girl children among the deceased. Most of the child victims went to nearby water bodies unattended. The highest number of deaths occurred in August.
"If children can remain in care especially during the first half of the day, we can prevent 70 percent incidents of children drowning." said Aminur Rahman, Deputy Executive Director of the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh (CIPRB) with the reference to a survey paper.
The CIPRB survey showed, around 40 children drown every day and such deaths occur in ponds within 20 metres of the home from 9am to 1pm.
"Apart from deaths caused by diseases, drowning cases is very much preventable. Bangladesh has pledged to reduce the under-five mortality rate to 25 per thousand children by 2030 to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)," said Mir Masrur Zaman, director of SoMaSHTe.
The meeting recommended that the government should develop a nationwide strategy to prevent child drowning, learning from proven interventions targeting those most prone to risk.
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