Every year, more than 14,000 children die by drowning in Bangladesh.

The figure was released in the framework of World Drowning Prevention Day. Worldwide there are 236,000 deaths per year. The little ones are not only at risk during floods, but also in the performance of daily activities.

Dhaka ( / Agencies) – Drowning is the second leading cause of death in Bangladesh: every year, more than 14,000 children drown. The figure was published on July 25 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on the occasion of World Drowning Prevention Day.

“It’s heartbreaking to see so many lives lost in this country every year. We know these deaths are preventable,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh.

Every year, 236,000 people die by drowning; 90% of cases occur in low- and middle-income countries. People most at risk are children under the age of five.

According to international organizations, the main problem, in the case of Bangladesh, is not only the lack of awareness, but also that people do not know how to swim. Therefore, children who live in rural areas near water courses are at greater risk of dying. According to UN data, deaths are often related to everyday activities such as fetching water for domestic use, bathing, boat or ferry travel, and fishing, aggravated by extreme weather events such as the monsoon season.

“Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional death globally,” says Bardan Jung Rana, WHO representative in Bangladesh. It is also a type of death that is easily preventable with low-cost solutions. community awareness, investment in facilities where children and adolescents can be taught to swim, construction of protection barriers and compliance with navigation regulations.

World Drowning Prevention Day was established last year by the UN General Assembly precisely to underline that drowning deaths are preventable.

Bangladesh has implemented a three-year program to curb the problem. The government will take over 2,500 daycare centers funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and expand the program to another 5,500 facilities in an effort to serve some 200,000 children under the age of five.