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Toddler Drowning Prevention
Thursday December 9, 2004
Australia’s Federal politicians are being asked to become Ambassadors
for Toddler Water Safety in a unique program to drive down drowning deaths
in the five and under age group.
Royal Life Saving is inviting each Federal Member of Parliament and Senator
to sign on as part of Pfizer Australia KEEP WATCH, the national toddler anti-drowning
campaign in its sixth year.
Pfizer Australia KEEP WATCH Ambassadors agree to act as a community contact
point and distribution centre for information on preventing toddler drowning.
Pfizer Australia KEEP WATCH has a range of posters, videos and pamphlets
in its public education arsenal with much of the information available in multi-lingual
versions. Parliamentary Ambassadors will be denoted by a certificate to be
hung in their offices.
MPs and Senators were asked to sign-up at a ceremony at Parliament House in
Canberra today amid concern that although toddler drownings were trending down
- decreasing by 40 percent since 1999 - they had spiked upward in the last
year.
Royal Life Saving figures for the financial year 2003-04 show there were 40
drowning deaths of children aged 0-5, up five on the previous year.
“While the Pfizer Australia KEEP WATCH program has directly translated
into young lives saved, the fact that we are here today knowing that 40 young
children lost their lives last year means that more work is needed, and that
our battle is ongoing," the Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator
the Hon Rod Kemp, said today.
“The Australian Government has been pleased to support the Royal Life
Saving Society of Australia.
“The Australian Government is committed to increasing the effort to
reduce death and injury caused by drowning and near drowning. During the 2004
election campaign, we committed to boost current levels of funding for water
and snow safety initiatives by $10 million over the next four years - bringing
total funding from the Australian Government to $21 million for this period.
”This commitment will help the Royal Life Saving Society keep up its
excellent work, including the Pfizer Australia KEEP WATCH program.”
“While the 2004 figure represents a 26 percent decrease on the five-year
average of 54 deaths, 40 young lives lost is an extremely frightening figure,” said
Royal Life Saving CEO Rob Bradley.
“Despite a huge amount of publicity and community effort, the drowning
rate of our toddlers is still way too high.”
In 2003-04, toddler drowning occurred primarily in swimming pools (18 fatalities),
bathtubs claimed six lives, while rivers/ oceans/ harbours were the site of
four fatalities. Four deaths were also recorded at lakes/dams/lagoons and a
further eight occurred in less obvious or unknown locations such as nappy buckets,
water tanks and ponds.
“Parents need to be aware that drowning happens swiftly and silently.
Parents may not hear a splash or children crying out,” said Mr Bradley.
Today’s Parliamentary Ambassadors heard from Narelle Hunter, a mother-of-four
from Young in rural NSW who almost lost her youngest daughter to drowning.
The country’s leading medicines company, Pfizer Australia, is in its
sixth and final year of supporting KEEP WATCH and felt closer involvement of
politicians was an effective way of ensuring the issue does not fade from public
view.
“While it’s gratifying to see toddler drownings decrease by 40
percent overall doing the term of our sponsorship, this is a battle that will
never end,” said Pfizer Australia managing director John Young.
Rob Bradley said Pfizer Australia’s partnership with Royal Life Saving
began at a time of great need.
“There are over 75 children alive today that would not have been had
the 0-5 drowning figure remained at the 1998 level,” Mr Bradley said.
Pfizer Australia KEEP WATCH has four key messages:
- Supervise your child
- Fence the pool, and on rural properties, create a child safe area
- Familiarise your child with water
- Learn resuscitation
The 2004 National Drowning Report can be viewed on www.royallifesaving.com.au
Pfizer Australia is the country’s leading research-based health care
company. It discovers, develops, manufactures and markets innovative medical
treatments for both humans and animals. For more information visit the links
on this site.
Facts at a glance: The 0-5 years Age Group
- 40 children aged between 0-5 years drowned in the 12 months to June 30,
2004
- This figure represents 14% of all drowning deaths
- 27 children (68%) were males
- 18 children (45%) drowned in swimming pools
- 19 children (62%) fell or wandered into the water prior to drowning