Map of the Day: Drowning as a Global Health Priority

Today’s map comes from a new World Health Organization report on the global health implications of drownings. It shows where drowning is a leading cause of children’s deaths around the world.

Drowning deaths worldwide

As you can see, much of the world does not keep data on deaths from drowning. And this is part of the problem.

The report finds that drowning accounts for about 372,000 deaths worldwide every year, most of which are in the developing world. This puts deaths from drowning at about two thirds the number of global deaths due to malnutrition and about half the total number of deaths due to malaria. In other words, drowning is a serious global health issue. And it’s been pretty much off-the-radar of the international health and development community.