July 23, 2025
Ms. Omar (for herself and Ms. Wasserman Schultz) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Supporting the goals and ideals of World Drowning Prevention Day.
Whereas drowning is the third-leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths;
Whereas drowning has caused more than 2,500,000 preventable deaths in the past decade, a silent epidemic of preventable loss;
Whereas drowning is among the 10 leading causes of death for children and young people aged 1–24 years in every region of the world;
Whereas flood-related disasters increasingly affect millions of people globally due in part to the escalating adverse impacts of climate change, and drowning is the leading cause of deaths during floods;
Whereas, more than 90 percent of drowning deaths occur in rivers, lakes, wells, domestic water storage vessels, and swimming pools in low- and middle-income countries;
Whereas over 90 percent of global drowning occurs in low- and middle-income countries, and in high-income countries, drowning rates are high among certain age groups and among minority ethnic groups;
Whereas the human, social, and economic toll of these losses is intolerably high, and entirely preventable;
Whereas the World Health Organization has set out six evidence-based, low-cost drowning prevention interventions that countries and organizations can use to drastically reduce the risk of drowning, including—
(1)
teaching school-age children basic swimming, water safety, and safe rescue skills;
(2)
providing safe places away from water for pre-school children;
(3)
installing barriers to better prevent access to water;
(4)
training bystanders in safe rescue and resuscitation;
(5)
setting and enforcing boating, shipping, and ferry regulations; and
(6)
improving flood risk management locally and nationally; and
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly adopted a historic resolution in April 2021 recognizing the scale and impact of drowning globally, calling for coordinated multisectoral action to prevent drowning, and declaring July 25 World Drowning Prevention Day: Now, therefore, be it
Sec.
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
supports the goals and ideals of World Drowning Prevention Day to catalyze concrete action and generate attention globally for drowning prevention and improved water safety;
(2)
recognizes the importance of this global advocacy event as an opportunity to highlight the tragic and profound impact of drowning on families and communities and offer lifesaving solutions to prevent it; and
(3)
encourages intergovernment cooperation to develop new drowning prevention policies, legislation, or investment, and to convene multisectoral roundtables or parliamentary discussions.