DESPITE NATIONAL and Europe-wide awareness campaigns, drowning is still the second main cause of injury and death among children in Europe, with more drowning while on holiday abroad than in their own countries, according to the European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (EuroSafe).
A collation of Europe-wide data, carried out by EuroSafe as part of a water safety campaign, the Water Wise Campaign has revealed that in the Algarve, a region with more than 150 kilometres of coastline, 83 per cent of child drownings between 2000 and 2007 occurred in swimming pools.
Of those, only one pool was fenced and 72 per cent of the victims were children visiting, mostly from abroad.
Each year, there are around 30 fatal drownings in Portugal. However, the data collected by EuroSafe reveals that there are an average of 648 swimming pool injuries every day in the EU.
The most common factor associated with drowning across the EU was found to be inadequate supervision and alcohol use, which contributed to poorer supervision of children.
There are many simple ways to avoid these tragedies from occurring, with the most effective being the prevention of unsupervised access to water, such as swimming pools, rivers, the sea and wells.
Avoid tragedy
Swimming pool fencing, whereby property and the pool are enclosed, greatly protects children by denying accidental access. Pool alarms and adequate pool covers also provide additional protection – these must be used appropriately and consistently to be effective.
The use of personal flotation devices is also important, with their use being estimated to prevent 85 per cent of annual boating related drowning.
Parents and guardians should be aware of local dangers when going on holiday. When at sea, swim in supervised areas. The Associação para a Promoção de Segurança Infantil (APSI), the association for the promotion of child safety, revealed that the only children who died in the ocean in Portugal in 2006 were teenagers swimming in unsupervised beaches off season.
The Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos (ISN), the institute of emergency maritime rescue, has revealed that accidents at beaches in Portugal have reduced in the last three years.”Each year we have had to carry out less rescues,” said ISN spokesman Nuno Leitão. “Some 975 rescues were carried out in 2007, compared with more than 1,500 in the two years previously.”
For more information about the EU Water Wise Campaign, please visit the EuroSafe website, available in English at www.eurosafe.eu.com
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