Africa has been the continent with the most drowning cases according the World Health Organization (WHO) for quite a lot of years now. So how is it possible that a continent that's free from natural disaster like Tsunami (that could cause massive mortality) have the high mortality rate via drowning?
Well there are some pretty obvious reasons which would be discussed briefly and in a concise manner.
Firstly, I'll quickly describe the geography of Africa with respect to aquatic bodies so you can get a clear picture of why this topic is so important. Africa is a continent surrounded by massive water bodies ( the Atlantic ocean to the west, Indian ocean to the east and southeast and Mediterranean Sea to the north) and quite alot of countries in the western and southern parts of Africa have a great number inland water bodies. This shows Africa is a continent with great interaction with aquatic bodies which have helped in improving the economy of most countries through fishing, petroleum and mineral exploration.
Lately, there's been an outrageous increase in the rates of drowning in so many countries in Africa mostly among the low and middle income countries. Casuality from drowning incidents have rose from their tens of thousands per year to hundreds of thousands. One could think there would be a reduction due to education, civilization and increase in construction of swimming pools and aquatic centers. Well this hasn't been the case for these reasons.
LACKADAISICAL NATURE OF MOST PEOPLE.
Africa as a whole has quite a lot of people who are lackadaisical in acquiring some skills unless they feel they need it to get paid which is a bad mindset we're all still working on. Many people have a mindset of not acquiring aquatic skills because they feel it's useless to their lifestyle. Some still claim to be hydrophobic which is a general thing for non swimmers or beginners worldwide but there are more cases of "I'm Not Interested In Learning How To Swim". This has led to a drastic increase in drowning accidents of children, teenagers, students, Youth corp members, parents and even men of the military. For example, in 2016, it wasn't until recently that the Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Navy mandated swimming as a requirement for promotion in the Navy because of the embarrassing cases of Naval officers drowning during operations. This mandate has greatly improved the safety and aquatic skills of men of the military.
POOR GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND INTEREST.
Secondly, unlike many continents around the world where learning how to swim has been made a part of the curriculum of schools by the government and educational sector (which has greatly reduced drowning cases) this is still a dream in Africa as the government of most countries have completely neglected the fact that children and youths are more prone to drowning and this kind of safety initiative carried out by these non-African continents are very important and useful in the lives of the younger generation.
FINANCIAL STATUS OF CITIZENS.
Finally, to conclude my reasons, most aquatic centers and swimming schools in Africa charge more than the daily income of over 70% of the population. For instance, over 50% of people in Africa live below $1 daily, it's quite difficult to learn how to swim when the pool charges $1.5 - $6 for usage of a single day (training fee excluded). This alone wouldn't encourage most people to learn because of their financial status and has been an obvious reason why Africa has the most drowning cases.
In order not to make this post more lengthy than it already is, I'll be discussing some solutions on how drowning cases can be reduced in Africa to it's lowest level in my next post so please anticipate.