Watch out when swimming this summer!
It was a warm Sunday morning and most of the families were out at Coaco Beach in Davao City. Five-year-old Jane was swimming along with other kids along the seashore. No adults were looking for them. Jane’s mother, Charlene, was busy preparing their food for lunch while the father, Jonathan, was buying soft drinks in the nearby store.
Suddenly, three consecutive big waves hit the kids. Jane was carried away into the deeper part and before she knew it, she was already gasping and drinking a lot of water. The other kids could not help her since they, too, didn’t know how to swim. It was just a matter of a minute and Jane went down to the water. Luckily, Aida, a neighbor who was also on the beach, came and immediately rescued Jane.
But it seemed it was already late. Jane was already pale and was not moving anymore. “Will somebody help us,” Aida shouted. Everyone who heard the shout came running. “What happened?” Charlene inquired and when she saw it was her daughter, she was shocked.
Fortunately, Ferdinand, Aida’s son, and his friend, Renato, were around. Both had attended a first aid workshop a couple of weeks ago conducted by the Philippine National Red Cross. Sensing that Jane was no longer breathing, the two immediately did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. First, it was Ferdinand who breathed into Jane’s mouth. Afterwards, Renato took over. Three minutes later, Jane vomited some water and started breathing again.
Charlene was crying and smiling when she saw her daughter had been brought back to life. They immediately took her to the hospital. “Thank you very much,” she told Ferdinand and Renato. “You have saved the life of my daughter just on time.”
Jane was lucky. Drowning kills 372,000 people annually around the world and in the Philippines, it is a serious public health problem.
Based on the records from the Philippine National Police, about 212 people have already died from drowning as of March 28.
Most of those who died were from Western Visayas which recorded 28 deaths. Calabarzon closely trailed with 27 and Central Luzon with 20.
Statistics don’t lie. “About eight persons die every day due to drowning, and more were reported to be victims of near drowning (10 cases per day),” said the country report presented at the World Conference on Drowning Prevention (WCDP) in 2011.
A study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) listed drowning, with 12 percent, as the fourth-leading cause of death from injury in the Philippines. Road traffic accidents (20%), gun shots (17%) and stabbings (14%) were the top three causes, while electrocution and falls was ranked fifth (4%).
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) singled out the month of April as having the highest average number of deaths (355) caused by drowning and submersion from 2006 to 2013. The month of May trailed with 316 reported deaths.
The months of April, August, and September also had higher numbers of casualties: 291, 286 and 281, respectively. February had the least number, with 205 deaths. A Lesser number of deaths were also reported during January (226), December (264) and November (267).
Sunday, with 606 deaths, had the highest average number of deaths caused by drowning and submersion. Saturday settled for second with 576 deaths. Wednesday had the least number of deaths: 400.
Drowning is the second-leading cause of death among children aged 14 years and below, outnumbering deaths from serious diseases such as tuberculosis, malnutrition, diarrhea, cancer, and meningitis. This was based on the result of the study – Child drowning in the Philippines: The silent killer speaks.
According to the findings of a study conducted by Safe Kids Philippines, the Philippine Life Saving Society and the Department of Health, almost 2,000 children die yearly from drowning.
Research from UNICEF showed the drowning rates were highest among boys and girls less than 5 years old compared to other age groups and higher among females than males for all age groups.
In addition, the drowning rates were higher among males under 5 years and among those under 15 years compared to females of the same ages. This gender difference was largest for male toddlers whose relative risk for drowning death was 1.5 times higher than female toddlers, the research pointed out.
Drowning and near drowning are two different terms. Near drowning is “severe oxygen deprivation” (suffocation) caused by submersion in water but not resulting in death; when death occurs, the event is called drowning.
“When a person is submerged under water, water enters the lungs,” explains The Merck Manual of Medical Information. “The vocal cords may go into severe spasm, temporarily preventing water from reaching the lungs. When filled with water, the lungs cannot efficiently transfer oxygen to the blood. The decrease in the level of oxygen in the blood that results may lead to brain damage and death.”
According to the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO), males are especially at risk of drowning, with twice the overall mortality rate of females. They are more likely to be hospitalized than females for non-fatal drowning. Studies suggest that the higher drowning rates among males are due to increased exposure to water and riskier behavior such as swimming alone, drinking alcohol before swimming alone and boating.
Increased access to water is another risk factor for drowning. People with occupations such as commercial fishing or fishing for subsistence, using small boats are more prone to drowning. Children who live near open water sources, such as ditches, ponds, irrigation channels, or pools are especially at risk. –
