URN.Olaro who represented Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng at the country’s inaugural event further said Lake Victoria records the highest number of incidents followed by Lake Albert where 90% of the people submerged actually drown.
Drowning kills an alarmingly high number of people in Uganda, the Ministry of Health -MOH revealed on Monday as Uganda joined the rest of the World to mark Drowning Prevention Day.
While there is no countrywide survey so far done on drowning, Dr. Charles Olaro the Director Curative Services in the ministry said they estimate that annually, drowning kills half as many as those succumbing to malaria, which is one of Uganda’s leading causes of death where in 2020 alone, 30,900 people died. THis translated to about 41 people drowning daily on average.
Olaro who represented Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng at the country’s inaugural event further said Lake Victoria records the highest number of incidents followed by Lake Albert where 90% of the people who drown don’t survive.
However, while data presented by the MOH paints a grim picture, these could be just a tip of an iceberg as Makerere University based Researcher and Lecturer Fredrick Oporia says there’s a lot of under-reporting and that the Ministry has just started paying attention to the issue by focusing interventions in islands where there is biggest need.
While researchers at the School of Public Health have helped government come up with a National Drowning Prevention Strategy, he says average rescue time for people who drown in Uganda is still high estimated at 45 minutes and yet it takes only 20 secionds to three minutes for one to die in water.
Responding to this, the ministry revealed that they have procured fourteen rescue boats to help evacuate people once an accident happens but according to Uganda Police Marine, there is more that they need in place than rescue.
SSP Eng. Robert Lule, the Chief Technical Officer at the Marine Police said for prevention governments needs to put in place standards for life jackets and create awareness about them especially among the fisher folks.
Currently he said, it is hard to advise a fisherman on what brand to buy.
