Excellencies
Distinguished participants
Partners, colleagues and friends
Good evening.
The UN General Assembly adopted its first resolution on drowning prevention in 2021 and was followed by the first-ever related World Health Assembly resolution in 2023. Together, this started the global momentum on an issue that had otherwise been neglected for too long.
This report we are launching today is the direct outcome of that momentum.
Drowning is a silent killer, striking in seconds, often close to home. It disproportionately affects children, and males. People with disabilities, rural communities, fisherfolk and the urban poor also carry a heavy burden. Sadly, their stories rarely make headlines.
This report shows a light on the drowning situation in each country of the South-East Asia Region—and also recommends policies tailored for each country.
The findings are sobering.
In 2021, an estimated 300,000 people around the world were lost to drowning. More than a quarter of them, about 83,000, were in our region.
While these numbers are significant, we have also made progress. Since 2000, the drowning death rate in our region has almost halved.
The threat is growing, with climate change bringing more floods, stronger storms and rising seas. Unless we act, these numbers rise.
Our report is not a ledger of loss. It is a catalogue of solutions, and a necessary reminder that drowning is preventable.
Across our region, countries are showing that evidence-based drowning prevention works.
In Bangladesh, community childcare centres and survival‑swimming programmes have reduced drowning among young children.
In Sri Lanka, the Fit to Fish safety programme and the Sayuru early warning system are protecting fishing communities and strengthening coastal communities.
In Nepal, community dialogue is bringing drowning prevention to the forefront of local planning.
Here, in Thailand, the Merit Maker programme has equipped hundreds of thousands of children with life‑saving skills. I am also extremely pleased that Thailand now tracks drowning as a key performance indicator. This is an excellent example for all countries in our region.
These countries have shown that evidence‑based interventions work. They save lives, and they can be scaled up.
Unfortunately, many of our countries still lack national plans, legal frameworks for water safety, or surveillance systems. Too often drowning prevention falls between ministries, diluted by competing priorities and limited budgets.
This has to change, and the report’s proposals are clear:
Adopt national strategies, with focal points, budgets and progress monitoring.
Expand proven community interventions, particularly in high‑risk areas.
Strengthen and enforce laws and standards, covering, for example, life‑jacket use, alcohol near water, flood‑safe infrastructure and other related regulations.
Build robust data systems so we know where, when and why drowning occurs.
Finally—and crucially—embed drowning prevention in wider systems, so every sector can play its part.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is up to us to do actions by nation, community by community—to prevent the avoidable tragedy of drowning.
We have the knowledge, we have the tools, and—in this report—we have the proof of strategies that save lives.
Let us build a region where water means life and livelihood, not death.
Thank you.