Preventable tragedies: Why Uganda must act on drowning

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OPINION

By Emmanuel Ainebyoona

Uganda’s vast network of lakes and rivers is the lifeblood of our nation. They provide food, transport, irrigation, and sustenance for millions of citizens, forming the very foundation of countless communities. Yet, these vital waterways, alongside the increasingly common artificial ones like swimming pools, silently continue to claim a devastating number of lives each year.

The recent tragedy of a Senior Six student found lifeless in a school swimming pool in Mukono District is a heart-wrenching reminder of this ongoing crisis.

This was not an unavoidable act of fate; it was a preventable incident that underscores the urgent need for the government to enforce comprehensive drowning prevention measures.

This tragic news reached me as I was attending a short course at the Global Drowning Prevention Leadership Institute (GDPLI 2025), hosted by the International Injury Research Unit of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. This experience profoundly raised my awareness of the systemic nature of such public health emergencies. A key takeaway was the concept of the systems thinking approach, which emphasizes that collaboration across multiple sectors is not just beneficial but essential to tackling complex issues like drowning. No single policy or agency can solve this alone.

Uganda, like many low- and middle-income countries, bears a disproportionate share of the global drowning burden. The World Health Organization estimates that drowning accounts for over 300,000 deaths worldwide each year. While entirely preventable, its victims are predominantly young children and economically active young adults, making it not only a human tragedy but also a significant blow to our national productivity and social fabric.

A seminal study by Makerere University School of Public Health, titled “Understanding and Prevention Drowning in Uganda,” provides critical local context. It found that the majority of drowning victims are male. In lakeside districts, the risk is widespread across ages, while in non-lakeside areas, children are the most vulnerable. The most common activities leading to drowning are boating and collecting water. Underlying these activities are root causes like the use of unseaworthy vessels, catastrophic overloading of boats with people or cargo, and a lack of basic safety equipment.

The horrific MV Templar boat disaster on Lake Victoria in November 2018, which claimed 30 lives, remains a fresh and painful national memory. In its wake, the government rightly ordered the registration of all boats. However, this alone is insufficient.

We require a concerted, multi-layered strategy that moves beyond awareness campaigns into actionable, community-driven, and enforced solutions.

Based on my classroom learning and field observations in the US, I propose a multi-pronged approach to overturn these needless deaths:

First, primary prevention is paramount. We must stop drowning before it happens. This begins with targeted child protection. Communities, with local government support, can implement low-tech, high-impact interventions. Building barriers—such as fences made from locally available materials—around communal wells, ponds, and dangerous waterfronts can drastically reduce a child’s unsupervised access to water. Furthermore, establishing community-sponsored “child watch” systems, where adults rotate supervising high-risk areas during peak hours, creates a vital safety net. This model has proven highly effective in countries like Bangladesh.

Second, for those whose livelihoods depend on the water, safety must be enforced and democratized. This requires a dual strategy: strict regulation and enforcement of passenger limits and vessel seaworthiness for boat operators, coupled with government or donor-funded programmes to make life jackets affordable and accessible for all fishermen.

A life jacket must be seen not as a luxury, but as a standard and non-negotiable tool of the trade, as essential as a fishing net.

Third, we must empower communities with skills and knowledge. A fundamental shift must occur from a fear of water to a respect fortified by knowledge.

As the Makerere study recommends, we must encourage the reporting of drowning incidents without the fear of them being treated as crime scenes, which often leads to underreporting and a lack of accurate data. Critically, water safety and survival swimming skills should be integrated into the national school curriculum.

It doesn’t require Olympic pools; adaptable programmes like the WHO-recommended "SwimSafe" can be taught in safe, designated areas of natural water bodies by trained local instructors.

Simultaneously, robust public awareness campaigns in local languages, delivered via radio, community meetings, and religious gatherings, are needed to dismantle dangerous myths and teach core principles: the perils of overloading, the non-negotiable use of life jackets, the risks of alcohol near water, and the imperative of constant child supervision.

Beaches in Entebbe, for instance, must have enforced safety standards, including lifeguards and clear signage, much like the vigilant enforcement I witnessed at Sandy Point State Park in Maryland, USA.

Finally, we must mend the broken chain of rescue. The minutes after an incident are critical. We must train and equip community-based first responders. Selecting volunteers from fishing villages and landing sites to be trained in basic water rescue, CPR, and first aid can create a crucial frontline defence. These local heroes, equipped with simple throw ropes and buoys, can bridge the deadly gap between an incident and the arrival of distant medical help. Our existing network of Village Health Teams (VHTs) and Community Health Extension Workers provides a perfect foundation for this program.

In conclusion, preventing drowning requires a multi-sectoral approach elevated to a national priority. The government must lead by developing a dedicated National Drowning Prevention Strategy, coordinated by a lead agency within the Ministry of Health or Disaster Preparedness. This strategy must break down silos, fostering collaboration between the ministries of Health, Transport, Education, and Gender and Social Development.

The waters of Uganda do not have to be a source of tragedy. By building barriers to protect our children, equipping our fishermen with the tools to stay safe, empowering a generation with the skill to swim, and training our communities to respond, we can create an enduring culture of safety. This is a monumental task, but it is achievable. It demands that we value every life by investing in a practical, collaborative, and unwavering effort to ensure that Uganda’s waterways remain a source of life and prosperity, not immeasurable loss.

The writer is a senior communication officer at the Ministry of Health

emmanuel.ainebyoona@health.go.ug