Drowning Facts – Have We Hit a Crisis Point in America? – 🛟 #drowningprevention https://t.co/sB9bTKnYp0
— Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego (@PDFSanDiego) November 7, 2022
Both drowning prevention as well as mitigating pool-related deaths go hand in hand. The annual drowning report of the Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC), shows that fatal drownings in children younger than 15 years old and nonfatal drownings remain high.
The facts about drowning-related deaths
According to the World Health Organization, drowning is the leading cause for unintentional death worldwide with more 372,000 deaths each year. 140,000 are children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 4,000 Americans drown each year in the United States. After birth defects, drowning is the second leading cause for death in children. Three children drown each day. It is the second leading cause for accidental death in children aged 1-14.
Swimming pool-related drowning facts
Each year, 379 children below 15 years old drown in drownings due to spas or pools. This is according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and has been climbing to the United States.
Unintentional drowning deaths occurred in 2018-2019 at a total of 73 deaths among children under 1 year old, 821 for ages 1-4 and 390 for ages 5-13, and 270 for ages 15-17 ( CDC). Most drownings in residential swimming pools happen among children ages 1-4. 74% of fatal swimming pool accidents were at residences.
Texas is the leader in childhood drownings. Children younger than three years old were responsible for 67% of drownings in swimming pools. Black children aged 10-14 years are more likely to drown in swimming pools than White children. According to the CDC , Black children and youths are more likely HTML to drown at public pools. White children and youth are more likely to drown at residential pools .
U.S. U.S. falls behind developed nations when it comes to water safety
A 2015 study by the National Safety Council revealed that most states were significantly behind on their grading scales.
The NSC study provided specific recommendations to states on what they should do. They made recommendations for how to achieve the grade:
- States must update regulations governing public pools and water facilities to comply with the Model Aquatic Health Code.
- CPR is required for high school students to graduate.
- All residential swimming pools must be enclosed by barriers according to regulations.
State Water Safety Measures Increased Under Pressure
In 2015, the media called upon states reduce drowning deaths. The NSC has yet to recommend that the majority of the country adopt the guidelines. Experts such as Dr. Dr. Katchmarchi is the Executor Director for the NDPA (National Drowning Prevention Alliance). He believes we have reached a critical point. “We saw a significant increase in deaths starting in 2020. It’s difficult to see if this is a new trend that we are seeing due to the pandemic.
Katchmarchi is voicing concern because of a possible correlation between drownings and current events. Katchmarchi said, “In 2020, we saw drowning rates rise significantly for the first-time in a very long period.” “Some of our initial data for 2021 has made me even more afraid.”
Experts in public health say water safety should become a priority as nearly all drowning deaths can be prevented. These deaths don’t have to happen. It is something we should be embarrassed of and be motivated to address,” Shannon Frattaroli (Director of Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy) said.
Richard Hamburg, Executive Director at Safe States Alliance, stated that “most state and local health department are chronically inadequate for accident prevention in particular and many lack expertise in drowning prevention.”
To improve drowning prevention standards, laws are being slowly passed. The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act is the law of the land in America. This was a significant achievement for federal intervention.
Congress Calls for Action from Organizations
It is a known fact that drowning remains a leading cause of death among children and young adults. Experts in drowning prevention believe that most states do not have the necessary laws and regulations. Experts agree that more efforts are needed by states to reduce the number of fatalities. Inconsistent laws exist within neighboring jurisdictions.
In March, more than 200 national and local organizations and state agencies, including the American Red Cross and the YMCA, wrote to Congress . They called the rise in drownings a “silent crises” that required funding and leadership from government.
Dr. Katchmarchi says that more research is required on drowning prevention measures in order to have a significant impact. We have been advocating alarms and barriers. There is data that supports the fact that barriers reduce drowning. There has been some evidence that drowning rates drop by up to 50% in children under five years old, but more data is needed. Alarms: We don’t have any data on how effective they are. Although we think they are effective, we don’t have the data to prove it. For example, an alarm can reduce drowning risk by X%.
Katchmarchi believes that more attention should be given to the National Water Safety Action Plan. This plan is intended to have an impact on the local, state and federal levels when it comes down to water safety. Katchmarchi said that this was in response to a World Health Organization call for countries to develop a national plan to address drowning.
Water Safety & Prevention of Drowning
To achieve our water safety goals, we must conduct drowning prevention studies. There may have been a number of factors that contributed to the increase in drowning deaths in recent years. The numbers of drowning prevention are clearly moving targets, and they do not reflect statistics.
A Moving Target that Equilates to Human Lives
The most concerning thing about this data is the slow pace of change. It is alarming that public pools are still closing at an alarming pace, given the recent increase in drowning deaths. It is alarming that funding cuts for lifeguards, research and public pools could be undoing all the achievements of our nation in recent decades. According to water safety experts, the fact that we are struggling to keep pace with other developed countries should be a national embarrassment.
Dr. Katchmarchi explained that he was part of the U.S. delegation that attended the 2017 world conference on drowning prevention. “What was really embarrassing was that the United States was not the only developed country that had a watersafety action plan.” “We hadn’t even begun to develop it at that time.” When you compare us to other developed countries, the only difference is that their federal governments play a greater role in water safety.
Executive Director – NDPA
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