A/RES/75/273

United Nations

General AssemblyDistr.: General
29 April 2021

Seventy-fifth session
Agenda item 24Eradication of poverty and other development issues

Resolution adopted by the General Assemblyon 28 April 2021
[without reference to a Main Committee (A/75/L.76 and A/75/L.76/Add.1)]

75/273.

Global drowning prevention
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming
our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which it adopted acomprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative
Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its commitment to working tirelessly forthe full implementation of the Agenda by 2030, its recognition that eradicating
poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest
global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, andits commitment to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions –economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner, tobuilding upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seeking
to address their unfinished business, and to leaving no one behind,
Reaffirming also its resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015 on the Addis Ababa
Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development,
which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, supports
and complements it, helps to contextualize its means of implementation targets withconcrete policies and actions and reaffirms the strong political commitment to address
the challenge of financing and creating an enabling environment at all levels forsustainable development in the spirit of global partnership and solidarity,
Recalling its resolution 71/222 of 21 December 2016, entitled “InternationalDecade for Action, ‘Water for Sustainable Development’, 2018 –2028”, and its
resolution 73/226 of 20 December 2018, entitled “Midterm comprehensive review of
the implementation of the International Decade for Action, ‘Water for SustainableDevelopment’, 2018–2028”,
Reaffirming its resolutions 53/199 of 15 December 1998 and 61/185 of20 December 2006 on the proclamation of international years, and Economic and21-05668 (E)040521*2105668*

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Social Council resolution 1980/67 of 25 July 1980 on international years andanniversaries,
Recalling its resolution 74/2 of 10 October 2019, by which it adopted thepolitical declaration of the high-level meeting on universal health coverage, entitled“Universal health coverage: moving together to build a healthier world”, in which it
recognized the need to scale up efforts to address the growing burden of injuries anddeaths, including those related to drowning, through preventive measures as well as
emergency response as part of integrated health-care delivery,
Recalling also World Health Assembly resolution 64.27 of 24 May 2011,
entitled “Child injury prevention”, 1 and recognizing that drowning is a leading global
cause of injury-related child deaths that requires preventive measures, including
awareness-raising,
Deeply concerned that drowning has been the cause of over 2.5 million
preventable deaths in the past decade, but has been largely unrecognized relative to
its impact,
Recognizing the association between drowning and development, and notingthat over 90 per cent of deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, with Africa
recording the world’s highest drowning rates and Asia carrying the highest burden ofdrowning deaths by number,
Noting that drowning is a social equity issue that disproportionately affects
children and adolescents in rural areas, with many countries reporting drowning as
the leading cause of childhood mortality and drowning being among the 10 leading
causes of death globally for 5- to 14-year-olds,
Noting with concern that the official global estimate of 235,000 deaths perannum excludes drownings attributable to flood-related climatic events and watertransport incidents, resulting in the underrepresentation of drowning deaths by up to
50 per cent in some countries,
Recognizing that drowning prevention can increase societal resilience, andnoting that drownings affect not only littoral nations but frequently occur in rivers,lakes, domestic water storage and swimming pools in many other countries,
Underlining the relevance of major global frameworks, including the ParisAgreement, 2 the New Urban Agenda 3 and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction 2015–2030, 4 for addressing climate change and reducing disaster risk,
noting that water-related disasters increasingly affect millions of people globallyowing in part to the escalating adverse impacts of climate change and that flooding
affects more people than any other natural hazard, with drowning being the maincause of death during floods, and noting also the importance of national adaptation
planning to address these risks,
Observing that drowning prevention would contribute to the delivery of the2030 Agenda, most notably that drowning prevention represents an effective measurecontributing to the prevention of child deaths and can protect investment in childdevelopment,
Noting the significant progress made by some Member States with regard topolicy and programming interventions to prevent or reduce the incidence of drowning
as a cause of death,__________________

See World Health Organization, document WHA64/2011/REC/1.
See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex.
3
Resolution 71/256, annex.
4Resolution 69/283, annex II.
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Affirming that drowning is preventable and that scalable, low-cost interventions
exist, and emphasizing the urgency of developing an effective and coordinatedresponse among relevant stakeholders in this regard,
1.
Encourages all Member States, on a voluntary basis, to consider taking thefollowing actions, in accordance with national circumstances:(a)Appoint a national focal point for drowning prevention;(b) Develop a national drowning prevention plan, containing a set ofmeasurable targets according to their needs and priorities, including as part of wider
national health plans, policies and programmes;(c) Develop drowning prevention programming in line with World HealthOrganization recommended interventions, namely, barriers, supervision, swim skills,
rescue and resuscitation training, boating regulation and managing flood risk andresilience;(d) Ensure enactment and effective enforcement of water safety laws, acrossall relevant sectors, in particular in the areas of health, education, transportation anddisaster risk reduction, where appropriate, and consider establishing appropriate andproportionate regulations where they do not yet exist;(e) Include drowning within civil registration and vital statistics registers andaggregate all drowning mortality data into national estimates;(f) Promote drowning prevention public awareness and behaviou r-change
campaigns;(g) Encourage integration of drowning prevention within existing disaster risk
reduction programmes, especially in communities at risk of flooding and coastal
inundation, including through international, regional and bilateral cooperat ion;(h) Support international cooperation by sharing lessons learned, experiences
and best practices, within and among regions;(i) Promote research and development of innovative drowning prevention
tools and technology, and to promote capacity-building through international
cooperation, in particular for developing countries;(j) Consider the introduction of water safety, swimming and first aid lessons
as part of school curricula, consistent with the Member State’s governance framework
for education;
2.
Invites the World Health Organization to assist Member States, upon theirrequest, in their drowning prevention efforts and to coordinate actions within theUnited Nations system among relevant United Nations entities, including the United
Nations Children’s Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ofthe Secretariat, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the United
Nations Development Programme;
3.

Decides to proclaim 25 July as World Drowning Prevention Day;

4.
Invites all Member States, relevant organizations of the United Nations
system and other global, regional and subregional organizations, as well as otherrelevant stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, academia andindividuals, to observe World Drowning Prevention Day annually in an appropriatemanner and in accordance with national priorities, through education, knowledge sharing and other activities, in order to raise awareness of the importance of drowning
prevention and the need for urgent coordinated multisectoral action to improve watersafety, with the aim of reducing preventable deaths;

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5.
Stresses that the cost of all activities that may arise from the observanceof World Drowning Prevention Day should be met from voluntar y contributions, inaccordance with national capacity;
6.
Invites the World Health Organization to facilitate the observance of World
Drowning Prevention Day, in collaboration with other relevant organizations, mindfulof the provisions contained in the annex to Economic and Social Council resolution
1980/67;
7.
Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to theattention of all Member States, the organizations of the United Nations sy stem andcivil society organizations for appropriate observance.
62nd plenary meeting
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