World Drowning Prevention Day

This global advocacy event serves as an opportunity to highlight the tragic and profound impact of drowning on families and communities and offer life-saving solutions to prevent it . An estimated 236,000 people drown every year, and drowning is among the ten leading causes of death for children aged 5-14 years. More than 90% of  drowning deaths  occur in rivers, lakes, wells, domestic water storage vessels and swimming pools in low- and middle-income countries, with children and adolescents in rural areas disproportionately affected.

Drowning has caused over 2.5 million deaths in the last decade. The overwhelming majority of these deaths (90%) happen in low- and middle-income countries. Globally, the highest drowning rates occur among children aged 1–4 years, followed by children aged 5–9 years. The human, social and economic toll of these losses is intolerably high, and entirely preventable. In 2023, the 76th World Health Assembly adopted its first ever resolution on drowning prevention. The resolution accepts the invitation of the United Nations General Assembly for WHO to coordinate actions within the UN system on drowning prevention and facilitate the observance of World Drowning Prevention Day on 25 July each year. To mark this year’s World Drowning Prevention Day, WHO will continue to focus on raising awareness on drowning as a public health issue, reminding people that anyone can drown, but no one should. We are also raising awareness on the six evidence-based, low-cost drowning prevention interventions tha...

Drowning is one of the leading causes of death globally for children and young people aged 1-24 years. Every year, an estimated 236,000 people drown. More than 90% of drowning deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, with children under the age of five being at highest risk. These deaths are frequently linked to daily, routine activities, such as bathing, collecting water for domestic use, travelling over water on boats or ferries, and fishing. The impacts of seasonal or extreme weather events – including monsoons – are also a frequent cause of drowning. Most of these deaths are preventable, through evidence-based, low-cost solutions, such as: installing barriers controlling access to water providing safe places away from water such as crèches for pre-school children with capable childcare teaching swimming, water safety and safe rescue skills training bystanders in safe rescue and resuscitation setting and enforcing safe boating, shipping and ferry regulations improving floo...

World Drowning Prevention Day, declared through the April 2021 UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/75/273 “Global drowning prevention” , is held annually on 25 July. This global advocacy event serves as an opportunity to highlight the tragic and profound impact of drowning on families and communities and offer life-saving solutions to prevent it. An estimated 236,000 people drown every year, and drowning is among the ten leading causes of death for children and youth aged 1-24 years. More than 90% of drowning deaths occur in rivers, lakes, wells and domestic water storage vessels in low- and middle-income countries, with children and adolescents in rural areas disproportionately affected. All stakeholders are invited to mark World Drowning Prevention Day – governments, UN agencies, civil society organizations, the private sector, academia and individuals – by highlighting the need for urgent, coordinated and multi-sectoral action on proven measures such as:   installing barri...

The United Nations General Assembly established the Resolution A/RES/75/273 on 28 April 2021 designating July 25th as World Drowning Prevention Day . Through this global event, we remember lives lost due to drowning and aim to increase knowledge on safety in and around water . Drowning doesn't have a single cause, or a single solution. The General Assembly,  Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which it adopted a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its commitment to working tirelessly for the full implementation of the Agenda by 2030, its recognition that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, and its commitment to achieving sustainable development in its th...

 In April 2021 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a historic resolution on global drowning prevention, recognizing the scale and impact of drowning globally , and calling for coordinated multisectoral action to prevent drowning – a leading cause of injury-related death and disability worldwide . The resolution invites all Member States and their partners to observe World Drowning Prevention Day annually on 25 July in accordance with national priorities, ‘ …in order to raise awareness of the importance of drowning prevention and the need for urgent coordinated multisectoral action to improve water safety, with the aim of reducing preventable deaths ’. And in May 2023 the 76th World Health Assembly adopted its first-ever resolution on drowning prevention, requesting governments and their partners, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), to accelerate action on drowning prevention through 2029. The resolution was sponsored by the Governments of Banglades...