A child vanishes beneath the surface. A fisherman never returns home. A mother awaits by the shore, heartbroken. In Uganda, drowning steals more than 3,000 lives every year—silently, swiftly and often without witness. These aren’t just numbers—they are families torn apart, futures cut short and communities left in mourning. For those living along our lakes and rivers, water is life—but without safety, it becomes a daily risk. And yet, most of these deaths are preventable.
Drowning is a major public health issue, killing more than 300,000 people worldwide each year. With more than 3,000 drowning deaths yearly, Uganda has one of the highest drowning rates globally. Young adultmales living among lakeside communities who carry out boating related activities like fishing are most at risk.
A number of recent developments promise to reduce drowning risks in Uganda. The first is the designation of a lead agency to coordinate drowning prevention activities. Until recently, Uganda’s drowning prevention efforts were decentralized, with 12 independent agencies working on addressing the risk. Through the advocacy efforts of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) and country partners, the Office of the Prime Minister recognized the need to designate a single coordinator, leading to the recent appointment of the Ministry of Works and Transport as the Lead Agency. This appointment is a game changer to further progress and collaboration among the diverse stakeholders in drowning prevention. The Ministry of Works and Transport through its Department of Maritime Administration is uniting government departments, non-governmental organizations and community groups with a unified approach. This centralized approach finally provides the necessary body to enforce better coordination and strategy. The guidance of the Parliamentary Forum on Road and Water Safety has also been invaluable in ensuring clear roles and mandates of the various government entities.
While the expansion in the mandate of the Ministry of Works and Transport as the Lead Agency represents significant progress, the department in charge faces considerable resource constraints in executing its expanded mandate. Despite the formal recognition of its coordinating role, adequate national funding has not yet followed this designation, creating a gap between policy ambitions and implementation capacity. For Uganda to achieve its goal of reducing drowning deaths by 25 percent by 2028, increased domestic resource allocation will be essential to complement international support efforts. Sustainable progress will ultimately depend on the drive to prioritize drowning prevention within national budgets, ensuring the department has the necessary tools to fulfill its critical public safety mission.
Another positive development has been the development of an integrated Water Safety Strategy, which is near completion. The strategy will address two key groups of children under the age of 15, which account for 43 percent of drowning victims and fishing communities. This group experiences drowning rates nearly three times the national average. The approach involves targeted interventions for these sub-populations that are highly vulnerable, such as swimming education initiatives designed to reach around 10,000 children a year, enhanced early warning systems for the more than 200,000 fishermen operating in Lake Victoria as well as a well-equipped and functional search and rescue unit in various water bodies across the country.
Yet another major milestone is the development of regulations to operationalize the Inland Water Transport Act of 2021. This process, which is close to finalization, will place emphasis on ensuring safety of passengers. Ugandan lakes and rivers are home to an estimated 70,000 vessels and this will lay the foundations for important safety standards. Village boat accidents are responsible for 62 percent of all drowning deaths on Lake Victoria where overcrowding is associated with 83 percent of drowning fatalities related to vessels, thus these regulations are focused on a leading cause of water death. The new standards will require mandatory use of safety devices like lifejackets that reduce the risk of death from drowning in an accident by as much as 75 percent.
Behind every drowning statistic is a name, a family and a future lost too soon. The commitment by the Maritime Department of the Ministry of Works and Transport to adopting these critical safety interventions is moving the country closer to its ambition of reducing drowning deaths in Uganda by 25 percent by the year 2028. However, realizing this vision will require not only continued policy development but also sustainable domestic funding to support implementation. By addressing vulnerable populations, groups, and communities through a multi-pronged, adequately resourced approach responsive to local contexts, Uganda could potentially save approximately 1,100 lives each year.
