Child Drowning

Rate per 100,000
Figure 16: Mortality by cause among children 1-17 years old, Jiangxi Province, China
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Injury NCD Infection UTD Total
Unknown
Pneumonia
Meningitis
Appendicitis
Malnutrition
Epilepsy
Cirrhosis
Muscular
Vascular
Cancer
Animal bite
Violence
Falls
RTA
Drowning
Source: Authors’ calculations from the Jiangxi Injury Survey (JIS) 2005.
The increased drowning rate in children left in the care of grandparents was a large portion of the
drowning burden among children in Jiangxi Province. For children 1-17 years old the relative risk of
dying from drowning was two thirds less (0.36) when living with a parent compared to not living with a
parent. 28 Relative to children living with their parents, children left in the care of their grandparents
were 2.8 times more likely to die of drowning. 29
Drowning mortality rates are high regardless of the level of childhood mortality
There is a common misconception that injury death rates (including drowning) are high only when
overall levels of child mortality are low. At current development levels in the countries surveyed,
drowning rates are high regardless of level of child mortality. The figures above show high drowning
rates in Jiangxi, China where the overall level of child mortality is low. The IMR in the Jiangxi survey was
19.2/1,000 live births and the U5MR was 25.4/1,000 live births, both considered low child mortality
levels for LMICs.
Figure 17 below shows that drowning rates are high as well in Cambodia, one of the few east Asian
LMICs that are still considered to have high levels of child mortality. The IMR in the Cambodia survey
was 52.9/1,000 live births and the U5MR was 74.4/1,000 live births.
28 Linnan, M., R.W. Jing and T. Reinten-Reynolds (August 2007). ‘An In-Depth Analysis of the Health Aspects of Children Left
Behind in the Jiangxi Injury Survey’, Report to UNICEF China, Bangkok: The Alliance for Safe Children.
29 Linnan, H., et al. ‘Drowning rates in children left behind, Jiangxi Province, China’. In: Scarr et al (eds.), World Conference on
Drowning Prevention, Danang, Vietnam, 2011. International Life Saving Federation, Leuven, p. 74, accessed at:
www.worldconferenceondrowningprevention2011.org
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