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It is a pleasure to join you on behalf of the WHO Representative, Dr Angela Pratt, who unfortunately cannot be with us today.
Let me start by thanking the Ministry of Health for organizing this important meeting, which WHO is proud to co-chair. Many thanks also to Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator for their generous support for this event.
At this pivotal moment, the mid-point of the national drowning strategy, WHO is honoured to be working with the Ministry to develop a case study to share results, challenges and lessons so far.
What we already know is that since 2018, thousands of children have learned survival swimming, many more have been safely supervised around water, and environments have become safer.
As a result, child drowning rates are coming down, which is, of course, excellent. We congratulate the Government and agencies here today for this significant achievement.
But sadly, drowning remains a leading cause of injury-related deaths among children in Viet Nam, with nearly 2,000 children under 16 years dying every year – or five children every day.
As the mother of two young children, I know the joy of seeing children play in the water. And I am reassured that all over the country, more children are being offered drowning prevention training – which we should see as essential life skills training.
Because I also know the fear of what can happen in a few short seconds. It breaks my heart to know that every day of the year, five families, five communities are grieving the loss of a child who needlessly died in the water.
As we look to the future, we need to sustain and scale up the cost-effective interventions that are proven to work. Especially:
Survival swimming for school-aged children, and
Better childcare or supervision for pre-school children.
We also need to create safer environments around homes, schools and communities to reduce the risk of drowning and prevent tragedies before they occur.
As we strengthen drowning prevention, we should also recognize the growing impact of climate change on water safety in Viet Nam.
Rising temperatures, more frequent extreme weather events, and seasonal flooding are increasing drowning risks, particularly for vulnerable children in rural and coastal areas.
Schools have a critical role to play—not only by teaching survival swimming and water safety skills, but also by integrating climate resilience education into the curriculum and serving as safe spaces during floods.
Linking our work on drowning prevention with broader climate adaptation strategies – such as resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and community preparedness – will help Viet Nam build safer environments and protect lives.
To do all of this, we need strengthened collaboration across sectors including health, education, transport, sports, disaster management, youth unions, civil society, local authorities and communities – and the support of domestic and international partners.
So, it’s great to see so many organizations and sectors represented here today in this room. Together, we can make drowning prevention a national success story.
Going forward, you can of course continue to count on WHO’s support as we join hands to support the Government to help ensure that every child grows up safe, healthy and free from preventable tragedy.
Xin Cam On!