Drowning Prevention Day: Lagos holds awareness campaign walk

In commemoration of the 2024 World Drowning Prevention Day, the Lagos State Safety Commission on Thursday led a road walk to raise awareness and reduce the incidences of drowning in the state.

The walk, organised in collaboration with Global Sports Exclusive Promotions, had scores of participants who walked from Ikeja Under Bridge to JJT Park in Alausa, Lagos.

The agency, in a statement Friday morning, said the road walk is to stem the alarming rate of drowning incidents in swimming pools, beach houses and waterways in the state.

World Drowning Prevention Day, declared through the April 2021 UN General Assembly Resolution, is held annually on 25 July to raise awareness and accelerate action on global drowning prevention.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated 236,000 people lose their lives to drowning annually, with 82,000 of them being children aged one to 14 years.

Globally, WHO noted that drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 per cent of all injury-related deaths.

Recommendations

In his remarks, the Director-General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola, highlighted the need for immediate actions to educate all residents of Lagos State on drowning prevention and as well equip residents with essential life-saving skills.

Mr Mojola said in 2021, the Lagos State Safety Commission Law and regulations on swimming pools were passed by the State House of Assembly and had since commenced implementations of the regulations.

He noted that in tandem with the Commission’s mandate to promote the safety and well-being of citizens within different communities, the Commission intends to organise the “Community Safety Lifeguard Initiative” focused on drowning prevention in the state.

The DG said the initiative included lifeguard training and certification, training children on water safety skills and swimming, bystanders on safe rescue and resuscitation techniques and disseminating water safety information using different media.

“We must ensure that students, teachers, and community members are well-informed and trained on water safety,” he said.

“To this end, the initiative will be in three phases: public sensitisation on drowning prevention in the media, training school children on water safety across the Six Educational Districts in Lagos State and lifeguards/ bystander training and certification.”

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According to him, this initiative underscored the preventable nature of drowning, served as a necessary effective strategy to mitigate drowning incidents, and emphasised the importance of water safety, among others.

Prevention

In his comments, the Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Olawale Age-Sulaimon, noted that drowning among Lagosians had been rampant irrespective of age, creed and race.

Mr Age-Sulaimon warned those who can’t swim to desist from it without swimming aides and gadgets.

“Through this collaborative effort, the Lagos State Safety Commission and Global Sports Exclusive Promotions demonstrated their commitment to creating a safer and healthier society. The event’s success paves the way for future initiatives aimed at promoting safety and well-being in Lagos State,” he said.