Drowning Still No. 1 Killer Of Thai Kids

By Jintamas Saksornchai, Staff Reporter

 

Some babies cool off in the water of Ampuen Reservoir on April 6, 2016, in Surin province. Photo: Matichon

 

BANGKOK — Drowning still kills the most Thai children, but fatalities have fallen to a new low and those working to save lives say awareness has improved.

 

Following a sustained effort, government-reported drowning deaths in 2017 were the lowest in two decades. According to fresh figures released Friday, 113 children drowned March to May during the summer school break, significantly lower than the 448 deaths in the same period six years ago.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2018/06/05/drowning-still-no-1-killer-of-thai-kids/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-06-05

I wonder how many don't even get reported ??

There is always a couple of deaths each holiday in our local waterfall. Not surprising though, when you watch what is going on, often very little supervision...

113 kids is still 113 too many !!!

that cannot be more children than die on motorbikes, no way. 

 

35 minutes ago, dictater said:

that cannot be more children than die on motorbikes, no way. 

 

I too am surprised that it isn't road deaths as number 1.

I think motorcycle.

But, child not driver.

1 hour ago, dictater said:

that cannot be more children than die on motorbikes, no way. 

 

Probably related to the fact that only deaths on the scene are reported as traffic related deaths.

22 minutes ago, janhkt said:

Probably related to the fact that only deaths on the scene are reported as traffic related deaths.

The old incorrect chest-nut again, and does it really matter - 1 child death from what ever cause is 1 too many. 

First aid  knowledge is growing amongst parents, 

swimming teaching is also growing,

supervision has not improved,  

sadly.

Drowning, motorcycles, etc, etc.

 

The primary cause is that nobody give a flying eff, there is no supervision, no guidance and no parental sense of resposibility.

 

But never mind, most of the parents are young, they can always have another one.

 

Jesus wept!!

1 minute ago, BigBadGeordie said:

Drowning, motorcycles, etc, etc.

 

The primary cause is that nobody give a flying eff, there is no supervision, no guidance and no parental sense of resposibility.

 

But never mind, most of the parents are young, they can always have another one.

 

Jesus wept!!

I would add another reason for these tragedies: UTTER STUPIDITY on the part of the 'adults'.

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

I too am surprised that it isn't road deaths as number 1.

It is, by far. This is just another example of careless shoddy reporting, by people who don't know much, and want to get back to checking their Facebook anyway. 

2 hours ago, dictater said:

that cannot be more children than die on motorbikes, no way. 

 

it is actually if you count the children as under 10 . About 4 per day ,1500 per year . i tried to teach young children to swim  at the local pool , about 10 at a time but they would not let them in with t shirts and shorts and not proper swimming outfits  and wanted to charge them 80 baht entrance and 40 baht for outfits so i stopped . I go to the same pool about 3 times a week  at 9.30 am . always empty thai , lack of empathy and logic

In places this heart-breaking problem is being address.  My wife's 7 year old son drown in a canal.  We relive that each year.  Avoidable?  Oh yeah.  But there is a blind leading the blind problem here.  Non-swimming parents don't have the tools to teach their children.
Good to see that my grand-daughter's school provides students with swimming lessons.  The kid loves the water and she's strong enough to make across the pool under her own power.  Kudos to the schools for providing this program!  All kids should be able to swim.  I had my daughter in the pool as an infant.  Kids are natural swimmers at that young age! 

Edited June 5, 20188 yr by connda

3 hours ago, BigBadGeordie said:

Drowning, motorcycles, etc, etc.

 

The primary cause is that nobody give a flying eff, there is no supervision, no guidance and no parental sense of resposibility.

 

But never mind, most of the parents are young, they can always have another one.

 

Jesus wept!!

If he came to Thailand he would more than weep. 

6 hours ago, DoctorG said:

I too am surprised that it isn't road deaths as number 1.

I can't find the recent survey details but according to the Child Injury in Thailand report conducted by the Institute of Health Research at Chulalongkorn University and The Alliance for Safe Children in collaboration with UNICEF, 2004, Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) was a close second overall between ages 0-17. But RTA was first for ages 10-17.

http://swimsafe.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Thai-child-short-report.pdf

9 hours ago, dictater said:

that cannot be more children than die on motorbikes, no way. 

 

I doubt the authorities would wish to draw attention to underage riders and overloaded motorcycles. 

 don't you love to see 3-4 people on a motorbike, daddie wearing a helmet & all the rest not... and one might fall off, but hey, that is what buddah wants and the sperm is good, so they can always make another one

I too am surprised that it isn't road deaths as number 1.

Do a google search and you'll see that drowning is number one by a decent margin. Just not publicised as it's a national disgrace.

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Traffic accidents are one thing. Kids not seat belted in, piled into the back of a pickup truck, falling off a motor bike, etc.  But drowning.  Disregarding falling into water unexpectedly, or hitting ones head and getting knocked out on the edge of a pool, so many "drowning" events were because the kids simply could not swim!  God damn it.  Yes of course supervision would or could help, like don't let them in the water, or don't wade in past your knees, but that in itself is silly.  Don't let the kids go in the water unless they can swim.  That is parental crime

Thread title should read.

Lazy Parents still make Drowning the no 1 killer of Kids.

It comes under the category of responsibility.

 

Drowning is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7% of all injury-related deaths.

 

http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drowning

 

So not just Thailand but global. Hmm, bloody Thai's, blah, blah, blah...

 

2 hours ago, bheard said:

Do a google search and you'll see that drowning is number one by a decent margin.

Can you provide your link that shows "drowning is number one by a decent margin," assuming you mean "substantial" margin?

I found (ref. post #15) that drowning was number one by a small margin but for several age groups it wasn't even number one.