Vietnamese Government Strong Commitment to Reduce Child Drowning

In recent years, Vietnam has taken bold steps toward combating the alarming issue of child drowning. In 2021, the Prime Minister issued a comprehensive 10-year program on Child Injury Prevention for 2021-2030. This groundbreaking policy was recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the five global highlights in drowning prevention. Since then, Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) has collaborated closely with the Ministry of Education and Training to include survival swimming and water safety education within the educational system. At the end of 2024, the Prime Minister approved a National Program on strengthening child drowning in educational system from 2025- 2035, reinforcing the government’s commitment and sustainable investment for child drowning.

Ambitious Targets for 2030 and Beyond 

The National Program outlines the long- term ambitious, measurable goals, which will create transformative change, ensuring tangible progress in child drowning prevention.

• 70% of students will be trained in water safety skills by 2030 and 90% by 2035. 
• At least 55% of students in grade five and 65% of students in grade nine will be able to swim by 2030. These figures will increase to 70% and 80% of students respectively by 2035. 
• At least 20% of primary schools and 15% secondary schools have swimming pools by 2030 and will increase by 30% and 25% by 2035, respectively. 
• Local governments must secure significant investment to mobilize the community swimming pools for child survival swim program.  
• All primary and secondary schools must invest in the capacity strengthening of their teachers and health staff on drowning first aid and be certified to teach swimming lessons. 

Tackling Challenges: Comprehensive Strategies for Success

The National Program will address challenges to ensure the success of its program through the following solutions.:  

• Inclusion of child drowning skills into the compulsory curriculum of life skills and physical training for all students ages 6-18. 
• Financial investment for survival swim program though the subsidy policies for infrastructure investment, public and private partnership for building and utilizing school swimming pools and the release of cost norms for swim lessons.
• Capacity strengthening in first aid for school teachers and health staff and standardized learning resources for comprehensive educational settings. 

GHAI is pleased to continue its strong partnership with the Vietnamese Government and lead ministries to implement this comprehensive National Program, which will save lives and positively contribute to the well-being of Vietnamese children.