The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that drowning is still one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide for those between the ages of one and 24, with children under five being most at risk.

Drowning is defined as being underwater and not being able to breathe, which can result in death or injury.

Additionally, UNICEF has warned that children playing in or near water without adequate supervision and safety precautions can quickly transform a happy moment into a tragedy.

It is worrying that children and young adults make up the majority of the estimated 1,100 drowning deaths that occur in Ghana alone each year, or almost three deaths per day.

These were contained in a statement commemorating World Drowning Prevention Day, which is observed on July 25 every year to strengthen national and international efforts to prevent drowning.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), drowning is a preventable global public health emergency that kills around 300,000 people a year, or 30 people every hour on average.

In addition to the numbers, many more cases in isolated areas go unreported, underscoring the problem as a serious yet underappreciated threat to public health.

Drowning can result in death, long-term health problems, or disability, hence it is important to raise awareness of this issue by educating the public on how to save lives.

Although flooding is a common cause of drowning, swimming pools, natural bodies of water like lakes and rivers, and residential water storage facilities are the most common locations. As a result, preventing drowning necessitates ongoing supervision, physical barriers, and critical water safety education.

Additionally, training in basic water rescue techniques and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), an emergency lifesaving operation carried out when the heart stops beating, is crucial.

It is important for parents and community people to learn how to react to an emergency without endangering themselves.

There is the need to install a fence around any body of water near your house, such as a pond or pool, to keep children from walking in unattended. Keep an eye on your children and avoid becoming sidetracked by your phone or talking to someone else.

The Spectator agrees with the WHO’s recommendation to cover more water sources, including cisterns, wells, and water containers, in order to avoid an accidental fall. When not in use, keep bathroom and laundry room doors locked and empty buckets, containers, and portable pools.

Teaching school-age children over six years old the fundamentals of swimming and water safety is one of the best approaches to prevent drowning.

Dear Editor,

Videos posted social media, specifically Facebook about the unhygienic condition fishes are handled around the Tema New Town has occasioned this opinion piece.

When I saw the video posted by members of the Bus Stop Boys teams, I understood the haste with which they called on the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to visit the area.

I felt so bad and terrible at the sight of fish meant for human consumption being dried very close to a rubbish pile. It speaks volumes of the attitudes of the traders that sell consumables to members of the public.

It makes the whole thing look as if they do not care about the health and safety of the consumers. All that these women think about is how to make their money.

Eventually, a consumer would go and buy and become a victim of a seller’s wickedness and carelessness by falling sick and ending up in a hospital.

This is the reason why I support the call for the FDA and other related agencies to visit some of the landing sites at our various beaches to inspect the places their prepare the fish before they come to the markets.

As a country bedeviled with several healthcare challenges, we must not allow some of these things to happen and go unpunished. In this case, the people responsible must first of be warned and if similar acts are committed again, then they must be be made to face the full rigours of the law.

For our traders, they must be occupied by thoughts of selling healthy foodstuff to customers to eat and be healthy. The focus must not just be making money.

Ryan Acquah,

Sowutuom