The drowning incident of the Egyptian child, Saif Mustafa (5 years old), on the first of August, in a swimming pool in one of the villages on the North Coast, caused a state of sadness and anxiety, especially with the increase in the number of deaths among children resulting from drowning.
While the World Health Organization estimates that 236,000 drowning deaths occur worldwide each year, children, males and individuals with the most access to water are most at risk of drowning.
While there are many reasons that lead to children drowning, experts say that the colors of the swimsuit that the child wears may play a role in his safety and protection from drowning in the swimming pool or beach.
Colors that blend with water and make it easy to sink.
Drowning is the leading killer of young children in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of death among children ages 1 to 4. Children drown just feet away from their parents, without screaming or struggling, and with complete surrender.
While the United States records 3,572 deaths by drowning annually, the number of child victims reaches 945 children annually.
The situation is not much different in Arab countries, which have announced initiatives to raise awareness and maintain the safety of children in swimming pools and beaches with the arrival of summer and the increase in drowning cases. The Public Health Authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stated that drowning accidents in the Kingdom are the second leading cause of death for children under 15 years of age, with deaths of young children under 5 years of age accounting for the largest proportion of these deaths, equivalent to 56%.
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In addition to negligence and failure to monitor the child while swimming, experts say that the colors of the child’s swimsuit may be one of the factors that lead to drowning.
The color of a child’s swimsuit can greatly affect their visibility in the water, which is critical to preventing drowning, said Bernard Fisher, director of health and safety for the American Lifeguards Association. People should avoid light blue, gray, green or white swimsuits, Fisher said in an article on CNN, because they can blend in with the water, the pool or the environment in general, making it harder to spot and follow a child in the water.
safest colors
Because drowning is fast and silent, Alive Solutions, a water safety, training and risk assessment company, tested 14 wetsuits in a variety of colours, in a pool and then in a lake, to see which colours were most visible in the water. The experiment revealed that bright colours such as neon yellow, orange and bright red are highly visible underwater and are preferred over traditional colours.
The test showed a number of other results, including:
- Bright, contrasting colors stand out more clearly under the water’s surface, making it easier for parents and coaches to monitor and quickly find the child in an emergency.
- The safest colors are bright and neon colors, including bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, and bright red, as these colors were crucial in detecting a child in a body of water.
- Common swimsuit colors, such as blue and green, have almost completely disappeared underwater. Like white and light blue, they are dangerous because they blend in with the water surface and the bottom of swimming pools.
- In the lakes, the white color looked like a reflection of the sunlight and didn’t stand out. In the dark-bottomed pool, the white color looked light blue and was easy to see up close, but it disappeared faster as you moved away.
- Dark or matching colors of water color quickly disappear in pools with dark bottoms.
- Neon pink popped well in pools, but not in lakes.
Safety procedures
The colors of your child’s swimsuit play a big role in their safety and protection from drowning, but they’re just one element of the safety measures experts recommend. The most effective advice for protecting your child from drowning is to give your child swimming lessons, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends teaching children to swim starting at the age of one year only, to protect them from drowning, as learning to swim is the most important tool to help children save themselves when facing the danger of drowning.
In the same context, a study published on the National Library of Medicine website, entitled “The Relationship between Swimming Lessons and Childhood Drowning,” revealed that formal swimming lessons were associated with an 88% reduction in the risk of drowning in children aged 1 to 4 years.
However, some drownings do happen during swimming lessons and while the instructor is busy training one child another child may drown. Therefore, the most necessary and important safety measure is for parents to closely monitor children during swimming lessons, or while in the water at any other time, without being distracted by reading, using the phone or being busy talking to others.
