Quang Tri’s children benefit from free swimming training program

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The children benefit from free swimming training program are from flood-prone low areas, such as Hai Duong, Hai Truong, Hai Thanh, Hai Thien, Hai Xuan, Hai Hoa, Hai Quy commune.

Quang Tri’s children benefit from free swimming training program.

Within the first 15 days of the program, youngsters were trained in many swimming techniques and provided with skills and experiences in saving drowning people. During the send half of the program, the children were able to swim well in a distance of 200 to 300m.

The free training program received supports from local people, particularly the trainees’ parents, and expressed their gratitude to the organizers for their efforts to control child drowning rates.

According to a report announced last year, of the 6,600 people aged between 0-19 years died from accidents in Vietnam every year, 3,500 died in water-related incidents. The number of children and teenagers dying from accidents, and drowning, in particular, is increasing. And fatalities among boys are three times higher than girls.

Drownings are mostly seen in children aged between 0-4 (36 per cent), while 25 per cent seen in those aged from 5-9, and 26 per cent in age group of 10-14.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has said the number of children drowning in Vietnam is 10 times higher than in other developing countries. The country experiences an average of 3,500-4,000 drowning deaths annually.

Although Vietnam boasts 3,260km of coastline and many rivers and lakes, swimming is only taught as an extra-curricular activity or at courses outside schools. Many of the drowning deaths occur in summer when children are off from school and lack of supervision from parents.