The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Child in Need Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Acta Paediatr. 2019 Apr;108(4):731-739. doi: 10.1111/apa.14592. Epub 2018 Oct 17.
Our aim was to improve our understanding of the contextual factors contributing to child drowning in rural West Bengal, India.
This 2017 study used interviews, focus groups and observations and the participants included community leaders, household heads, parents and children aged 7-17 years from three remote villages. They included adults and children who had been directly affected by the loss of family members or friends.
We conducted 19 in-depth interviews, six focus groups and three informal observations in public locations where people were exposed to water. The area contained a high number of natural open areas of water, which increased the drowning risk. Participants reported that children frequently played unsupervised near potentially hazardous water, as their parents worked long hours and there was a lack of safe recreational spaces. Suggested approaches to reducing the drowning risk included parental education to improve child supervision and establishing village committees to effectively communicate the drowning risks to local government. Low-cost, community-based approaches to improving child water safety need to be developed.
Drowning was clearly a complex issue in rural West Bengal, with a significant impact on children and their families. Community-based approaches are clearly needed.
我们旨在增进对印度西孟加拉邦农村地区儿童溺水相关背景因素的理解。
本项 2017 年的研究采用访谈、焦点小组和观察法，参与者包括来自三个偏远村庄的社区领导、户主、7-17 岁的家长和儿童。其中包括有直系亲属或朋友溺水经历的成年人和儿童。
我们在人们经常接触水的公共场所进行了 19 次深入访谈、6 次焦点小组和 3 次非正式观察。该地区有大量自然开放的水域，增加了溺水风险。参与者报告称，由于父母长时间工作，且缺乏安全的娱乐空间，儿童经常在有潜在危险的水域无人看管地玩耍。减少溺水风险的建议方法包括对家长进行教育以加强儿童监护，以及成立村民委员会，以便向地方政府有效传达溺水风险。需要制定低成本、以社区为基础的改善儿童水上安全的方法。
在西孟加拉邦农村地区，溺水显然是一个复杂的问题，对儿童及其家庭有重大影响。显然需要采取以社区为基础的方法。
