In Bangladesh, media reports indicate a threefold increase in child deaths due to drowning, which is recognised as a leading cause of mortality among children under five in rural areas.
Justin Scarr
Survival swimming launch in rural Bangladesh, 2005.
Picture: SUPPLIED (Justin Scarr)
The United Nations General Assembly passed its first-ever Resolution on Global Drowning Prevention (A/75/L.76) during the 75th session on April 28, 2021.
The resolution was proposed by Bangladesh and Ireland, and co-sponsored by more than 79 nations, including Australia.
In introducing the Resolution at the UN General Assembly in New York, the Ambassador and permanent representative of Bangladesh to the UN, Rabab Fatima, said: “Drowning is a major cause of global mortality, accounting for a greater loss of life annually, than to maternal mortality or malnutrition. The imperative to act on drowning is not simply moral or political. The economic cost is equally untenable.”