Safety advocates urging parents to be aware of swimming pool safety before the summer heats up also say more efforts are needed to teach black and Hispanic children to swim.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission will release its annual childhood drowning report Thursday at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex, home to the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
The report presents estimates of deaths and injuries associated with pools, spas and hot tubs, and it coincides with a national campaign that aims to reduce the number of similar events. The “Pool Safely” campaign is focusing this year on increasing swimming education in black and Hispanic communities.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black children between the ages of 5 and 14 are three times more likely to drown than white children of the same age range. Meanwhile, research by the USA Swimming Foundation indicates that up to 70 percent of black and Hispanic children cannot swim.
Citing that research, safety commission chairman Inez Tenenbaum said “there’s no question” that not knowing how to swim contributes to the deaths of minority children who drown in pools and in natural bodies of water such as lakes, streams or the ocean.
“We are focusing on minority children because the data show they are most at risk for drowning,” she said in a telephone interview.
“It’s a cultural issue, because many of the African-American and Hispanic children have parents and grandparents who never learned to swim,” Tenenbaum added.
The safety commission is working with the Y, the American Red Cross, public schools and other community organizations to boost access to free swimming lessons.
In its report, the agency has found that:
— An annual average of 390 pool- and spa-related deaths involving children younger than 15 were reported from 2007 to 2009. About 73 percent of those deaths occurred at a residential location, and three-quarters of the reported deaths involved children under the age of 5.
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article courtesy of BCNN1.com
