The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), in partnership with the Division of Emergency Medicine at Stellenbosch University, marked World Drowning Prevention Day (Thursday 25 July) by emphasising their joint efforts in research, education, clinical training, and community outreach to eliminate drowning incidents in South Africa.
Annually, the country faces about 1 500 drowning deaths, with children under 14 accounting for 29% of these tragedies. Their collaboration focuses on several key areas:
Research: Conducting epidemiological studies to understand drowning patterns and evaluate the effectiveness of prevention strategies, focusing on improving resuscitation techniques for drowning victims.
Education: The partnership integrates drowning prevention modules into the emergency medicine curriculum and develops continuing education programmes for healthcare professionals. They also run public awareness campaigns on water safety.
Clinical training: Enhancements in aquatic rescue, resuscitation and post-rescue care are provided, along with simulation of drowning scenarios for advanced life support training. Collaboration with NSRI offers hands-on experience in maritime rescue operations.
Community outreach: They implement World Health Organisation-recommended interventions, training bystanders in safe rescue and resuscitation techniques. In 2023, the NSRI reached over 905 000 children with water-safety lessons and taught nearly 18 000 survival swimming lessons. They operated from 130 locations, rescuing 1 822 people and 97 animals, supported by a network of beach safety cameras and over 1 800 Pink Rescue Buoys, which helped save 184 people.
