Campaign launched to keep young children safely in the swim

Date: 05/06/03

AN EU-wide campaign has been launched to help curb the rising death toll of children drowned in accidents. The campaign, by European Child Safety Alliance (ECOSA), is particularly aimed at Finland, Austria and the Netherlands, the three member states with the highest number of deaths.

As part of an awareness-raising exercise, information about how such accidents can be prevented will be distributed to the public.

ECOSA urges increased levels of supervision, use of lifejackets while boating, standardized water safety flags and improved fencing at pools.

Drowning and near-drowning injuries are major causes of childhood death and disability in the EU. More than 70 of victims are boys and the most vulnerable are children aged one to four years.

The situation is even worse in accession countries, with death rates in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia ten times higher than the EU average.