Drowning cases rise during summer, a leading cause of death among kids

Summer is a time for beach trips and swimming getaways. It is also a time to be cautious near bodies of water for young people who wish to beat the heat.

For children ages 1 to 4 years old, drowning has been one of the leading causes of death for the past ten years, said the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to Mark Salazar’s 24 Oras report on Wednesday, WHO said that drowning is a serious yet neglected danger to the public.

In 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recorded 3,576 cases of drowning incidents with the highest cases occurring from March to April.

Meanwhile, a 2019 survey revealed that many Filipinos do not know how to swim, which is ironic considering the Philippines is an archipelago surrounded by bodies of water.

With this, a volunteer swimming instructor said this may be because formal swimming lessons are expensive and the country lacks swimming facilities.

“If you’d like to learn, you have to go to an instructor, and the instructor will charge you for it. The reason why less people ang marunong mag swim dahil po sa facility (knows to swim is because of the facility). Less facility kasi for the public (There is less facilities for the public.)” said Jerrybert Quibilan, a volunteer swimming instructor.

Among the drowning incidents in the past few days happened in Tayum, Abra, where authorities had to dry out the water from an irrigation canal to recover the body of a one-year old boy who was left unattended and fell into the canal.

In La Paz, Abra, an 8-year old boy drowned during a picnic with his family.

Another incident occurred  in Kabacan, Cotabato, where a five-year old girl lost her life in the waters of the Pulangi River.

As drowning cases are reportedly on the rise, authorities are constantly reminding the public to be extra careful this summer season, especially when they visit the sea, rivers or swimming pools for their vacation.—Sherylin Untalan/RF, GMA Integrated News