Official figures just announced by Water Safety New Zealand show that the zero target for drowning fatalities among children aged under-five slipped a little further from the nation’s grasp in 2017.
Water Safety New Zealand’s provisional 2017 Drowning Prevention Report shows that in 2017 there were 88 recreational (intending to be in the water) and non-recreational (no intention of being in the water) preventable drowning fatalities. It represents an increase of 10, or 13 per cent, compared to 2016.
While there has been an increase in fatalities versus 2016, an analysis of five year rolling averages indicates a plateauing of preventable drowning fatalities against an increasing population, high tourism and immigration, and growth in recreational activity.
In 2017 there were seven preventable fatal drownings of toddlers, four more than in 2016.
There was an increase in preventable fatal drownings in, or around the home in 2017 with seven bath, eight home pool and three pond fatalities — 18 compared with five in 2016. Two fatalities occurred in Public Pools.
Offshore fatalities almost doubled from 11 in 2016 to 20 in 2017. Nine lake fatalities in 2017 (zero in 2016) has brought inland still water preventable drownings to 13 in 2017.
River fatalities almost halved from 23 in 2016 to 13 in 2017, beach fatalities were down to 14 in 2017 from 21 in 2016 and there were 5 less tidal water fatalities (11 in 2017 down from 16 in 2016).
Meanwhile, a Cockle Bay family has joined up to their local YMCA swim school in Lagoon Panmure. Laura Fisher and her husband are parents of four children aged five and under, and Stevie is their baby daughter. They are recipients of one of the first new Baby Swim Scholarships from Huggies.
Huggies has teamed up with SwimMagic and YMCA to help 47 families around the country fund water confidence lessons for their babies starting in term 1, 2018.
