Drowning: Activists want swimming skills part of school curriculum  

Activists are pushing for the integration of survival swimming skills in the school curriculum to reduce on cases of drowning in Uganda.

Speaking at the launch of a drowning prevention project in the three districts with a high burden of drowning death rates in the country on Friday in Masaka City, Reach a Hand Uganda country director Benson Muhindo said they have embarked on developing the swimming curriculum.

“It will help our people attain skills in swimming. It’s about saving lives and no parent should lose a child to a preventable tragedy, and no fisherman should face unnecessary risks,” he added.

The project, which will run in the districts of Mayuge, Masaka and Rakai, has seen at least 45 people trained in swimming and these will be deployed in selected schools to handle swimming lessons.

“We are going to set up community swimming pools in the three districts which will work as training grounds,” he added.

Dr Fredrick Oporia , an injury epidemiologist working as the head of the  trauma, injuries and disability unit at Makerere School of Public Health Centre, said studies on drowning indicate that Uganda is one of the countries with the highest related death rates globally.

“Our country loses nearly 3,000 people every year to drowning; this is about nine people who die every day though some of them may not make it to news and police reports,” he observed.

Dr Oporia said most of the victims of drowning are young people in productive age, especially those engaged in fishing activities.

Eng Sowedi   Ssewagudde,  the commissioner for International and Transboundary Water Affairs, who represented the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Environment, Dr Alfred Okot Okidi, congratulated the partners about the progress made towards the project.
 

“I call up everyone here today to join hands in raising awareness in our communities, promote water safety measures and also educate our children   how to prevent drowning,” he remarked.

Drowning in Uganda

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, Uganda registers “one of the world’s highest drowning deaths rates” of 502 in every 100,000 people residing in lakeside fishing communities.

Over 90 per cent of recorded drowning cases are fatalities and many go unreported in the country.

A study conducted by Makerere University’s School of Public Health revealed that 3,500 Ugandans across 74 districts drowned between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2018.

The survey further revealed that the number of deaths identified per district ranged from 30 to 287 in lakeside districts and from 47 to 123 in non-lake districts.