Korea Drowning Prevention Institute
Drowning Prevention Campaign
Every expats are welcome to join Drowning Prevention Campaign which will will train you how to survive yourself and your children in the unexpected situation in the beach,lake and the pool. Everyone who would keen to acquire knowledge of swim safety skills to save the life of your child by the drowning prevention expert won't regret joining us.
Swim and Survive
Swim and Survive program is a continuing Royal Life Saving initiative and has proved to be a sustainable program for over 30 years. With continued evaluation, consultation and development of quality resources, as well as further development of partnerships, the Swim and Survive program will continue to being Australia’s most successful swimming and water safety program.
The importance
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recently released Global Report on Drowning has identified drowning as a serious and neglected public health issue that is estimated to claim the lives of 372,000 people a year worldwide. More than 90% of these occur in low and middle income countries (LMICs) 1.
Drowning is an issue that has major impacts on children and youth, with children under five the age group most at risk. Globally, drowning is the 3rd leading cause of death for children aged at 5-14.
The report identifies proven strategies which are implemented at household, community and national level range from teaching basic swim skills (survival swimming) and installing barriers that control exposure to water hazards, to providing safe spaces for children such as creches and learning about safe rescue 1
The World Health Organisation recommends several key strategies for reducing drowning in children including installing barriers to control access to water, providing a safe place (such as creches) away from water for pre-school aged children and teaching school-age children basic swimming, water safety and safe rescue skills.
Impacts and Outcomes
The Swim and Survive program has made a great impact on the development of swimming and water safety skills of children in other nations such as Australia, United States, Canada, Bangladesh, India, UK. Without such as program that can be nationally implemented, it is most likely that many children would of missed out entirely in learning these essential foundation skills and the drowning death statistics would of remained at the similar rates of the 1960’s and 1970’s and of course earlier.
What we learn
There are a wide range of definitions for swimming and water safety skills. The ILS(International Life Saving Federation) position statement on Basic Aquatic Survival Skill defines survival skills as the ability to demonstrate the following set of skills, in a consistent and competent manner. These skills include:
• Enter and exit water safely
• Float for a minimum time of 30 seconds whilst breathing in a relaxed manner
• Move through the water using any form of propulsion and combination of strokes on the front, back or side for a minimum distance of 15 Metre.
• Rescue and be rescued by extending or grasping a rescue aid
• Practice putting on and swimming and floating using equipment
Cost
Registration: 5,000KRW (Exclusive pool entrance fee)
Statues and Sustainability
The extent to which the program reaches all children living in Korea is dependent on government funding and corporate partnerships which Gatsby International expects. Building relationships within the Aquatic Industry is vital for continued impact at the grass roots and to ensure that the program can be accessed for all.
Also in need of cooperation for further investigation of how access to the Swim and Survive program can be broadened to those that are currently missing out on learning to swim or who have little or no swimming ability.
Continued research is valuable to underpin the program and investigation into improved delivery and implementation strategies would support increasing the number of Swim and Survive Partners and gain an understanding of how Gatsby International can further support the program