Diver units in districts soon to check child drowning

“As a flood-prone country, drowning is the single leading cause of death among children aged 1–17 years”

The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (BFSCD) will set up a ‘diver unit’ in every district to prevent the drowning of children aged under five years. Though the BFSCD sought to create 384 posts of divers, the Finance Division has approved only 24 posts.  The public administration ministry, however, has approved 256 posts of divers for the new diver units, sources said. Under the circumstances, the BFSCD plans to send another proposal to the Finance Division through the Security Service Division of the home ministry soon seeking to create another 360 posts, the sources added.

BFCSD director general Brig. Gen. Md Sazzad Hussain has told The Independent that they were creating the divers’ posts in all district offices to reduce the drowning of children and to help people during disaster. “We’ve sent a proposal to the ministry concerned seeking to create 384 posts of divers, but we got approval for only 24 posts, which will be totally inadequate to meet our demand,” he said.

“We plan to send another proposal soon for creating more posts of divers,” he added. He also said the drowning of children rose in the rainy season. “That’s why we need to take steps to reduce it,” he added.

He further said they had 49 divers working in different stations in the country.

Country coordinator of Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative, Md Moyeen Uddin, told this correspondent that the drowning was one of the top five causes of death for children under five years in Bangladesh. “In Bangladesh, a river delta nation of over 160 million inhabitants, heavy monsoon rains affect over 10.5 million people. The country experiences an alarming rise in drowning of children every year,” he added.

“As a flood-prone country, drowning is the single leading cause of death among children aged 1–17 years. This has overtaken pneumonia and diarrhoea as the leading cause of death among children,” he said.

He also said the death rate rise steeply during monsoon when shallow ditches and natural holes got filled with

floodwater. According to a recent study led by International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), about 12,000

children drown in Bangladesh every year, which translates to average 30 deaths every day from drowning.

About 40 per cent of the drowning incident occur among children aged less than 15 and those aged below 15 are a a greater risk, says the study carried out between 2016 and 2018 and participated by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research or CIPRB, and ICDDR,B.

About 75 percent of the children drowned within 20 metres of their houses, as the children went to the ponds or water bodies by the side of the houses and the biggest reason for this is lack of awareness in the families, says the study.

In the last two years, about 71,000 children aged between one and four years in seven Upazilas were surveyed. The study was carried out on children drowned since 2012.

Diver units in districts soon to check child drowning

“As a flood-prone country, drowning is the single leading cause of death among children aged 1–17 years”

The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (BFSCD) will set up a diver unit in every district to prevent the drowning of children aged under five years. Though the BFSCD sought to create 384 posts of divers, the Finance Division has approved only 24 posts. The public administration ministry, however, has approved 256 posts of divers for the new diver units, sources said. Under the circumstances, the BFSCD plans to send another proposal to the Finance Division through the Security Service Division of the home ministry soon seeking to create another 360 posts, the sources added. BFCSD director general Brig. Gen. Md Sazzad Hussain has told The Independent that they were creating the divers posts in all district offices to reduce the drowning of children and to help people during disaster. Weve sent a proposal to the ministry concerned seeking to create 384 posts of divers, but we got approval for only 24 posts, which will be totally inadequate to meet our demand, he said. We plan to send another proposal soon for creating more posts of divers, he added. He also said the drowning of children rose in the rainy season. Thats why we need to take steps to reduce it, he added. He further said they had 49 divers working in different stations in the country. Country coordinator of Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative, Md Moyeen Uddin, told this correspondent that the drowning was one of the top five causes of death for children under five years in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, a river delta nation of over 160 million inhabitants, heavy monsoon rains affect over 10.5 million people. The country experiences an alarming rise in drowning of children every year, he added. As a flood-prone country, drowning is the single leading cause of death among children aged 117 years. This has overtaken pneumonia and diarrhoea as the leading cause of death among children, he said. He also said the death rate rise steeply during monsoon when shallow ditches and natural holes got filled with floodwater. According to a recent study led by International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), about 12,000 children drown in Bangladesh every year, which translates to average 30 deaths every day from drowning. About 40 per cent of the drowning incident occur among children aged less than 15 and those aged below 15 are a a greater risk, says the study carried out between 2016 and 2018 and participated by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research or CIPRB, and ICDDR,B. About 75 percent of the children drowned within 20 metres of their houses, as the children went to the ponds or water bodies by the side of the houses and the biggest reason for this is lack of awareness in the families, says the study. In the last two years, about 71,000 children aged between one and four years in seven Upazilas were surveyed. The study was carried out on children drowned since 2012.