Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Labour and Invalidsand Social Affairs and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee launcheda national campaign on child drowning prevention at Tay Son Elementary Schoolin Hanoi on May 22.
The campaign, themed Water safety for children this year,aims to call for the community’s joint effort in protecting children fromwater-related injury. Through the campaign, children are expected to be taughthow to swim while authorities, families and schools will pay more attention tocaring and supervising children and take more actions to ensure child safety,particularly during the summer.
In her opening remarks at the launching event, DeputyMinister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha, Vietnam hasenacted a number of legal documents and programmes related to child drowningprevention, including the 2016 Law on Children and the 2016 – 2020 programmefor protecting children from accidents and injuries which set to reduce childfatalities from drowning by 6 percent by 2020 in comparison to 2015 and have 40percent of elementary and middle school students aware of water safety rules.
Meanwhile in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, theVietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre held a training courseon injury and drowning prevention skills for more than 200 teachers andstudents at Truong Xuan 1 Elementary School in Thap Muoi district, on May 21 –22.
The teachers were instructed how to provide proper firstaid care for children after accidents, how to escape and help students escapein case of fire at school or multiple-story buildings, and how to use lifejackets and fire extinguishers.
Students were equipped with some basic life-saving skillsto prevent them from drowning, waterway accidents and other types of accidentand given lessons to improve their awareness of road safety rules.
Drowning remains one of the leading causes of mortalityamong children and teenagers aged below 19 in Vietnam. About 2,000 Vietnamesechildren died annually due to drowning.
Though Vietnam boasts 3,260km of coastline and manyrivers and lakes, swimming is only taught as an extra-curricular activity or atcourses outside schools. A survey by the Child Care and Protection Departmentin 2017 found only 35 percent of children in the Mekong Delta and 10 percent inthe Red River Delta can swim.
Last year, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs and eight other ministries and state agencies signed an inter-sectoralplan for child drowning prevention while Vietnam’s child drowning preventionefforts have received support from the society as well as both local andinternational organisations.-VNA
VNA
