‘UK must prioritise drowning prevention,’ says NWSF following WHO report

The National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) has issued an urgent appeal to the UK government to appoint a minister responsible for drowning prevention, after the release of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) groundbreaking Global Status Report on Drowning Prevention.

This landmark study is the first of its kind to comprehensively measure drowning risks and response efforts worldwide. It highlights drowning as a silent epidemic, calaiming over 300,000 lives globally in 2021, and almost 600 in the UK in 2022.

While the UK outperforms global averages, data from the UK’s Water Incident Database (WAID) shows that accidental drowning deaths have plateaued since 2019, with a slight increase in 2023—likely linked to the surge in water-based activities post-Covid-19.

Despite the gravity of the issue, the UK government has yet to formally adopt all critical recommendations set out in the UN Assembly’s 2021 Resolution on drowning prevention. Instead, initiatives remain reliant on voluntary networks like the NWSF, hosted by RoSPA, which has acted as a national focal point for this lifesaving work since 2004.

In sharp contrast, devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland have each assigned responsibility for drowning prevention to a named government minister. Scotland’s Drowning Prevention Strategy has driven a 10% reduction in accidental drowning fatalities since 2019. Such success underscores the potential impact of government leadership in this vital area of public health.

The NWSF is urging the UK government to formally designate responsibility for drowning prevention to a specific minister and government department. Whilst the NWSF and the drowning prevention community has done well to keep drowning deaths relatively static, in order to see a real reduction in these preventable and tragic incidents – and to achieve a UK without drowning – both of these interventions are urgently required.

“It’s time for the UK government to recognise drowning prevention as a critical public health priority. Effective prevention requires leadership, funding, and collaboration across science, safety, and rescue. The NWSF is ready to lead the charge, but we need formal ministerial responsibility to turn the tide on preventable drowning deaths.”

Professor Mike Tipton, Chair of the NWSF.

In November, Catherine Levin spoke with Dawn Whittaker, then Chair of the National Water Safety Forum, about what’s needed to boost action for improved water safety at a national level and drive down the number of accidental drownings that occur across the country every year. Read the full interview here.

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