The government is undertaking 'Integrated Community Based Centre for Child Care' and 'Protection and Swim Safe Facilities' projects to reduce the risk of children's drowning deaths.
The project will soon be implemented under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA), in all parts of the country till June 2024, at an estimated cost of Tk 309 crore.
Under this, 8,000 community based integrated child care centres will be set up and run for children below 5 years of age.
In addition, 1,600 swimming training facilities for children aged 6-10 years and parenting sessions will be conducted to raise awareness among parents. It will provide information on child development and child protection practices.
In Bangladesh, 14,000 children drown every year, of which 10,000 are children aged 1-4 years.
In other words, more than 30 children aged 1-4 years drown every day, said Bangladesh Shishu Academy, an institution run under MOWCA.
Bangladesh has achieved a lot in terms of infant mortality, prenatal mortality and children's participation in the pre-primary education system.
However, many children are drowning unexpectedly. One of the leading causes of death of children aged 1-9 years in the country is drowning. These deaths usually occur within 20 meters of the house in the ponds or dams, and in the early part of the day.
Lucky Inam, chairman of the Bangladesh Children's Academy, said drowning is one of the leading causes of death among children. The project is being undertaken to reduce the death rate, which is in the early stages.
The specific objectives of the project are to protect children at the highest risk time of the day (from 9 am to 2 pm) when there is no one to look after them. Besides, it will work to protect children under 5 years from all kinds of injuries including drowning. Moreover, it will ensure permanent benefits of children (intellectual, health, nutritional development) of 15 year olds by setting up child care centres.
The project will include implementation of NGO recruitment, in-house training, overseas training, seminars, conferences, workshops, office building rental, publicity and advertising, research, consultancy services, vehicle purchase and rental and other works for the management of child care centres.
The rate of drowning in rural areas is higher than in urban areas, probably due to the availability of small reservoirs such as ponds and ditches.
A study from Johns Hopkins University found that drowning deaths could be prevented and that the reduction rate could be as high as 88 percent.
According to the World Health Organization, 3 strategies are most effective in preventing drowning deaths; creating safe and affordable child care opportunities for children under the age of 5 such as daycare centres, increasing the opportunities of 6 to 10 year old children to learn to swim and raising the awareness of parents by emphasizing on safety and safe rescue in the water.
Under the project, 6-10 year old children will be provided safe swimming training to protect themselves from drowning. In addition, protection and institutional capacity from various injuries, including drowning of children at the national and grassroots levels, will be enhanced.
In addition, women will be motivated by ensuring family and social involvement in preventing childhood trauma and getting the best results through service practices and by creating opportunities for further education on positive parenting to protect children from childhood trauma.
