The Family Festival to raise awareness about drowning prevention was held from July 22 to 23 (Photo: Valerie Mai)

"We hope that parents and children will have more knowledge and skills to prevent drowning in their homes and communities, or in fun travel itineraries this summer and in the coming time. More than anyone, parents and grandparents are the ones who teach, guide and protect their children from the risk of drowning.

Many children will be saved from drowning if every Vietnamese family knows how to supervise and protect their children, arrange their home safely and children-friendly, and eliminate any risk of danger, certain accidents, injury, or drowning. Children will be safe if their parents take them to swimming classes, learn drowning prevention and safety skills, if they become teachers or classmates to learn drowning safety knowledge and skills with their children. Drowning in everyone, especially children, will be reduced if each of us has knowledge, skills, and safe reflexes against all risks of drowning," said Dang Hoai Nam, Director of the Department of Children (Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs).

According to Doan Thu Huyen, Representative in Vietnam of Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids, drowning is preventable with the care and practical actions of each family and individual. Parents, relatives, and teachers need to increase the supervision of children, create conditions for children to learn safe swimming skills, safety skills in the water environment, and how to actively protect themselves in dangerous situations.

The Family Festival was held by the Department of Children (Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs) in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies, USA, World Health Organization, and Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids (Global Health Policy Advocacy Incubator), USA in response to World Drowning Prevention Day 2023.

The event set up a playground for families to bond and take part in activities and games such as face painting, flashmob performance, swimming buoy decoration. Besides, parents can also practice drowning skills with their children through "Rescue" activity that simulates skills to save people in case of danger.

Through activities and games, participants gained an understanding of child drowning situation in Vietnam, the importance of equipping children with safety skills in the water environment, as well as the role of families, parents, and caregivers in drowning prevention.

"As you look around there are a lot of games and ideas really meant for families and children to understand the danger of drowning and also solutions," said Agarwal Vandana Shah, Vice President of Health Systems Strengthening for the Global Health Advocacy Incubator.

"Since 2018, we have been partnering with MOLISA, governmental agencies to raise awareness about drowning prevention and also come up with new solutions. A big part of our efforts has been developing communication campaigns at national level as well as provincial level. These communication campaigns at national level are targeting policymakers but at provincial level we target both policymakers and family and children, including a variety of engaging activities such as Tiktok and games. We know that these campaigns work because in the intervention communities the awareness of drowning prevention is 78% compared to that in non-intervention provinces is only 16%," she said.

Regarding cooperation with the Vietnamese government in preventing drowning, Kelly Larson, Bloomberg Philanthropies' Director for public health programs, said: "We started in 2018 and partnered with the government of Vietnam to provide extreme instruction for 6-15 years old children in 8 provinces and then the government has expanded to 12 provinces throughout the country. By partnering with the Government of Vietnam to provide swimming instruction, we see great outcomes with the government ownership of the drowning prevention program and continue with great efforts to scale up these interventions."

Photos at the event:

Flashmob performance at the festival (Photo: Valerie Mai)

Delegates cheer to the flashmob performance (Photo: Valerie Mai)

Parents and children join the event (Photo: Valerie Mai)

Delegates and children color the theme painting (Photo: Valerie Mai)

A parent join activities to learn water safety skills (Photo: Valerie Mai)

Many activities simulating lifesaving skills in drowning situations were held, attracting the attention of parents and children (Photo: Valerie Mai)

Children are excited by the games (Photo: Valerie Mai)

Many activities are held to help improve knowledge and understanding of children and parents about drowning prevention (Photo: Valerie Mai)

Present early at the event, Ha said that she happened to know about the event when taking her two children for a walk at Thong Nhat Park. Through fun activities, the daughters had exciting moments and learn more about safety in the water environment. (Photo: Valerie Mai)

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