Experts have underscored the need for creating mass awareness on learning swimming from the tender age to avert the trend of drowning in the country and thus saving valuable lives every year. Naisa, 5, and Emon, 7, two kids studying at Araibari Government Primary School under Brahmanbaria, have drowned in a pond near to their homestead recently. When mother of a half year old Tamim was busy in her household chores, he drowned in a nearby pond while playing adjacent to it.

According to the research findings of Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB), a total of 40 children and youths drown every day across the country on average and around 80 per cent of the incidents take place near their houses during the day time. The research findings which were disseminated through a press conference in the capital recently showed that the incidents of child drowning usually take place in the rural areas than the urban areas.

But, such incidents also take place in the capital and in the surrounding rivers like Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakhhya and Dhaleswari. Besides, the children living in the slum areas nearby the water bodies and Jheels also fall victim of drowning.

According to a research carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) across the globe, it was found that around 43 per cent of unintentional child deaths in the country occur due to drowning. The researchers of WHO in that research findings report opined that it would not be possible to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unless child deaths could not be reduced.

The report showed that child deaths due to drowning mostly occur in the lower and middle income countries even it shoot up to 91 per cent in some countries. But, the trend of such unexpected and unintentional death is also high among the west pacific and south-east Asian region. The rate of such death is the highest in the Africa region which is 10 times higher than England and 13 times higher than Germany.

It said most of the children in Bangladesh aged between 1 and 4 die due to drowning which is 43 per cent of the overall unintentional child deaths while male kids are usually drowned more than the female kids across the globe.