Summer is the season when students are on vacation, combined with hot weather, so swimming is a favorite pastime of many children. This is also the main cause of many drowning accidents.

1. Definition:

Drowning is a case of Accidental Injury (TNTT) occurring due to being submerged in liquid (water, gasoline, oil), leading to suffocation due to lack of oxygen or cardiac arrest, leading to death within 24 hours or requiring medical care or other complications.¹

2. Current situation of drowning in children in Vietnam:

A study on the situation of deaths due to accidents and injuries (TNTT) in Vietnam from 2012 to 2022 was compiled and analyzed by the Department of Health Environment Management based on mortality data from the A6-YTCS book of 10,500 communes/wards in 63 provinces/cities. The results showed that during this period, on average, the country recorded 33,619 deaths due to TNTT each year, accounting for 8.12% of the total number of deaths. The average annual mortality rate due to TNTT is 36.73/100,000 people. Traffic accidents (TNGT) are the leading cause of death, with a rate of 16.19/100,000 people, followed by drowning with 5.59/100,000 people. Analysis by age group shows that drowning is the main cause in children aged 0 - 4 and 5 - 14 years.²

3. Causes of drowning:

- For older children, it is due to their active and curious nature; for young children, it is due to their love of playing in water or due to the carelessness of their families.

- Children have not been taught skills to ensure safety and handle situations when swimming, and do not have the skills to rescue drowning people.

- Adults do not closely supervise children.

- In addition, the surrounding living environment always has lurking risk factors that cause drowning accidents for children, such as water basins, jars, water tanks, wells... without safe lids; Rivers, lakes, streams, ponds... are not fenced and have danger signs.

4. Measures to prevent drowning³:

- Children should stay away from dangerous water areas such as: Do not invite each other to go swimming in ponds, lakes, rivers, streams... when they do not know how to swim. Do not go or play near places such as ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, or water tanks, sewers, wells... without covers. Deep holes that are dangerous for children, such as holes for making bricks and tiles, holes for getting sand, and holes for getting water to irrigate crops, should be avoided.

- Young children always need the care and close supervision of adults. Children swimming in the sea or rivers should wear life jackets and must be supervised by parents or adults.

- In addition, parents need to teach children to swim and deal with dangerous situations that may occur when in contact with water, explaining to children the dangers of learning to swim or bathing in rivers and streams without adult supervision.

- In particular, schools also need to teach swimming skills to children as a compulsory program in the curriculum. To limit drowning accidents for children, the responsibility and cooperation of the whole society are needed. Hopefully, this summer we will not have to witness any more tragic drowning accidents for children./.

 Compiled by: Le Minh Dat (email: lmd@vpha.org.vn)

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References:

1.         Nguyễn Hữu Tú. Cấp cứu tai nạn thương tích. vol 1. Nhà xuất bản Y học; 2017.

2.         Lương Mai Anh, Hà Anh Đức, Tô Thị Phương Thảo, Nguyễn Quảng Thức, Đỗ Thị Điệp. Thực trạng tử vong do tai nạn thương tích tại Việt Nam giai đoạn 2012-2022. Tạp chí Y học Dự phòng. 2024;34(6 Phụ bản):36-43.

3.         Bộ Y tế - Phòng chống tai nạn thương tích. Nguyên nhân - giải pháp cho đuối nước ở trẻ em Việt Nam. Accessed May22, 2025. https://moh.gov.vn/web/phong-chong-tai-nan-thuong-tich/tin-noi-bat/-/asset_publisher/iinMRn208ZoI/content/nguyen-nhan-giai-phap-cho-uoi-nuoc-o-tre-em-viet-nam