TI - Community perception of childhood drowning and its prevention measures in rural Bangladesh: a qualitative study.

SB - Aust J Rural Health 2008 Jun;16(3):176-80 TA - Aust J Rural Health IP - 3 PG - 176-80 DP - 2008 FAU - Rahman Aminur A FAU - Shafinaz Shumona S FAU - Linnan Michael M FAU - Rahman Fazlur F AU - Rahman A AU - Shafinaz S AU - Linnan M AU - Rahman F Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh. aminur61@hotmail.c om AB - OBJECTIVES: To gain an in-depth understanding of people's perception of ca uses and their concepts of prevention of childhood drowning in rural Bangladesh. DESIGN: A qualitative study and focus group discus sion (FGD) was adopted. SETTING: A rural community in Bangladesh. PARTICIPANTS: FGDs were conducted with mothers of children aged u nder 5 years, adolescent male and female students, fathers and local leaders. One FGD was conducted for each group. Out of 53 parti cipants 25 were women. RESULTS: The respondents considered that children of 5-10 years are at risk of drowning. Ponds, ditches a nd canals were frequently mentioned locations of drowning. Most of the drownings were reported to occur around noon. For preve ntion of childhood drowning the participants suggested that the children should be constantly supervised, unwanted ditches sh ould be filled in, ponds should be fenced and drowning prevention awareness in the community be increased by community lea ders. They suggested that government should organise campaigns for preventing childhood drowning, promoting swimming instruc tion activities for children and motivating communities to fence ponds. CONCLUSIONS: People interviewed in general know the causes of childhood drowning and its preventive measures, but they do not put their knowledge into preventative actions as they fail to recognise this as a major child survival issue and they are never reached with definite actions points to change the beha viours. IS - 1440-1584 LA - eng PT - Type:Journal Article PT - Type:Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't PMID - 18471189 MH - Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice DA - 2008 05 12 DCOM - 2008 07 21 PL - Australia UOF - Aust J Rural Health 2008 Jun;16(3):176-80 18471189