Drowning deaths in West Bengal, India: a statewide community-based survey

Drowning burdens in low- and middle-income contexts are underestimated, as current data collection systems gather inadequate data. We conducted one of the largest community-based surveys to date capturing fatal drowning data across age, gender and rurality, focusing on the state of West Bengal, India.

A resource-efficient community knowledge approach was used to conduct an observational community-based survey where meetings were held with community residents and key informants to identify drowning deaths in the population. Identified deaths were verified at the victim's household through a structured survey, inquiring on the circumstances around the drowning death.

A fatal drowning rate of 9.17/100 000 was found across the state. Drownings were highest in children 1-4 years old (60.02/100 000), followed by 5-9 years (19.20/100 000). Males faced higher rates across all ages (11.82/100 000) compared with females (6.33/100 000). Rural areas faced significantly higher drowning rates than urban areas (12.52/100 000 and 1.19/100 000, respectively). About half of the events occurred in waterbodies near the victim's home. Most events occurred between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and were over-represented during the monsoon months of June to August. A minority of cases were administered appropriate resuscitation techniques or taken to formal healthcare providers, and only 16.1% of events were issued death certificates.

The results illustrated how routine data collection systems in low-income settings grossly underestimate drowning events, emphasising the importance of community-based surveys in capturing true drowning burdens in India and low- and middle-income country contexts more broadly.