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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Each day, more than forty people die of drowning every hour. Drowning prevention is usually a concern in many countries. Governments have developed strategies and guidelines to prevent drowning. This study aims to review four different drowning prevention documents.
Methods: A qualitative review was conducted using the document review method in which four documents were identified (1. Global Report on Drowning: Preventing a Leading Killer by WHO, 2. Preventing Drowning: An Implementation Guide by WHO, 3. Drowning Prevention Strategies - International Life Saving Federation, and 4. The UK Drowning Prevention Strategy 2016-2026). They were then analyzed based on the READ framework.
Results: The WHO report recommends the six best ways to reduce drowning. Preventing Drowning: An Implementation Guide introduced six interventions to prevent drowning and four strategies to support drowning prevention interventions. The UK Drowning Prevention Strategy 2016-2026 specified five aims for drowning prevention and four ways to achieve those aims. All four documents agreed that drowning could be prevented through the following actions: 1) targeted prevention strategies, 2) improved community infrastructure (e.g., water supply, bridges, and levees), 3) public awareness-raising, 4) appropriate policies and legislation, 5) and research identifying best practices and new drowning preventive measures. The documents had different strategies, which in many cases are similar--teaching swimming and water safety skills to school-age children. But "The Global Report on Drowning: Preventing a Leading Killer by WHO" suggested developing a separate national water safety plan for each country.
Conclusion: According to the study, we can use common strategies in all four documents to update our national strategies- scaling up these approaches will bring further gains. Regional drowning rates in low- and middle-income countries are up to 3.4 times greater than those in high-income countries. Developing context-sensitive strategies based on the world's successful policies is highly suggested.
https://jivresearch.org/jivr/index.php/jivr/article/view/1792
Fifth National Conference on Drowning Prevention Guilan Road Trauma Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
Language: en |