@article {Rahman75, author = {A Rahman and S R Mashreky and S M Chowdhury and M S Giashuddin and I J Uhaa and S Shafinaz and M Hossain and M Linnan and F Rahman}, title = {Analysis of the childhood fatal drowning situation in Bangladesh: exploring prevention measures for low-income countries}, volume = {15}, number = {2}, pages = {75--79}, year = {2009}, doi = {10.1136/ip.2008.020123}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group Ltd}, abstract = {Objective: To determine the epidemiology of child drowning in order to propose possible interventions for Bangladesh and other similar low-income countries.Design: Population-based cross-sectional study.Setting: Rural and urban communities in Bangladesh.Subjects: About 352 000 children 0{\textendash}17 years were selected from over 171 000 households, using multistage cluster sampling.Main outcome measures: Incidence of fatal drowning.Results: Drowning was the leading cause of death (28.6 per 100 000 child-years) in children aged 1{\textendash}17 years. The highest incidence (86.3 per 100 000 child-years) was in children aged 1{\textendash}4 years. More than two-thirds of drownings occurred in ponds and ditches. Most drownings (85\%) happened in daylight. In more than one-third of cases of drowning, the child was alone. In the two-thirds of cases in which the child was accompanied, almost half were with children who were 10 years or below. Only 7\% of drowned children over 4 years of age knew how to swim.Conclusions: Drowning is a major cause of childhood mortality in Bangladesh. Creating drowning-safe homes, improving supervision of children, modifying the environment, and developing water safety skills for children and the community may be effective interventions for drowning prevention.}, issn = {1353-8047}, URL = {https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/15/2/75}, eprint = {https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/15/2/75.full.pdf}, journal = {Injury Prevention} }