Border guards at the Mong Cai International Border Gate in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh rescued a Chinese citizen on April 15 afternoon after he was swept away by a strong current in the Ka Long border river.
By 2030, as many as 70% of students in Vietnam are expected to be taught swimming and water survival skills, with this figure projected to rise to 90% by 2035.
Drowning deaths can be significantly reduced when communication and education efforts are effectively implemented to raise public awareness on survival swimming skills, according to experts.
On behalf of the Minister of Public Security, Colonel Pham Thanh Tam, Deputy Director of the Long An provincial Department of Public Security, on May 6 handed over the ministry's certificates of merit to two local police officers for their outstanding exceptional performance in rescuing a Chinese child from drowning at San Ho 2 island in Nha Trang city, the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, on January 25.
Vietnam needs to integrate drowning prevention and climate change management programmes, Dang Hoa Nam, director of the Child Affairs Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) has said.
Vietnam has decreased the number of child drowning cases by 100 each year since 2016. While this may seem like an encouraging outcome initially, the fact remains that drowning is still among the leading causes of death for children in the country.
Nearly 14,000 children aged 6 - 15 have been equipped with swimming safety skills, and more than 30,000 with water safety skills over the last two years thanks to classes held by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) and relevant agencies in Vietnam.
A Rohingya migrant is said to be the only survivor from a boat carrying at least two dozen asylum seekers that is believed to have run into difficulty off the Malaysian coast near Thailand, a coastguard official of Malaysia said on July 26.
As many as 3,600 injuries are reported every day in Vietnam, killing about 90 people, said Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son at a national scientific conference on injury prevention in Hanoi on November 12.
Drowning among children is a huge concern in many countries. To reduce the risk, Nghe Hai commune, Cua Lo district, Nghe An province has opened swimming classes for children on Lam Giang river.
The Mekong Delta has the highest rate of drowning in the country, particularly in Dong Thap province, where the number of deaths due to drowning is 10 times higher compared to that of dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth disease combined.
A ceremony was held in the northwestern province of Hoa Binh on June 3 to launch the campaign on preventing disasters related to water for children and students during the flood season.
The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap is looking to implement a number of child-drowning prevention programmes this year thanks to 200,000 USD in aid from the Bloomberg Philanthropies, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI).
Vietnam still lacks mechanisms to prevent the abuse of children in various forms and support children victims, participants said at the second meeting of the National Committee for Children in Hanoi on March 22.
