Ministry, foreign partners work to prevent child drowning
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in coordination with foreign organisations is carrying out a cooperation programme to prevent child drowning, a serious problem in Vietnam.
Children are given swimming instruction (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi(VNA) – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) incoordination with foreign organisations is carrying out a cooperation programmeto prevent child drowning, a serious problem in Vietnam.
The programme will be implemented by MOLISA, theWorld Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI)for five years. It will be funded with 2.4 million USD from the BloombergPhilanthropies in the first two years.
The programme will feature two activities:supporting childcare providing measures, especially for under-5 children, athome and in communities and teaching swimming and other water safety skills forchildren aged 6 – 15.
It will also help enhance local authorities’capacity for running child drowning prevention activities.
The eight beneficiary provinces are Lao Cai, YenBai and Ninh Binh in the north; Quang Binh, Thanh Hoa and Dak Lak in thecentral region; and Dong Thap and Soc Trang in south.
The programme will be implemented based onproven interventions from other countries.
Meanwhile, the Bloomberg Philanthropies has beensupporting safety interventions, including through community daycare centresand survival swimming instruction, since 2012.
The foundation chose Vietnam to expand theseefforts because of the Government’s strong commitments and the seriousness ofthis problem in the country.
The MOLISA reported that about 2,000 childrenlost their lives to water in Vietnam each year between 2015 and 2017.
This figure, 10 times higher than in developednations, has made Vietnam one of the countries with the highest rates of childdeaths from drowning, according to Kelly Henning, head of the Bloomberg PhilanthropiesPublic Health Programme.
MOLISA Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Ha saiddrowning is a leading cause of child deaths from accidents in Vietnam.
Experts attributed this problem to limitedpublic awareness of drowning risks and a shortage of childcare. While a numberof children lack water safety skills, their surrounding environment has manydrowning risks.
WHO Representative to Vietnam Kidong Park saidthe rate of child drowning deaths in Vietnam is particularly high, but thisproblem is completely avoidable. What needed to be done is inter-sectoralapproach and strong engagement of communities, parents and childcare providers.
In the world, drowning claimed 360,000 livesevery year, 90 percent in low- and middle-income countries. Half of the drowningcases happen in the Southeast Asian and Western Pacific regions.-VNA
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Children are given swimming instruction (Photo: VNA) 
