Saving Lives from Drowning
In 2012, JH-IIRU launched the Saving of Lives from Drowning (SoLiD) project in Bangladesh—one of the largest implementation research initiatives focused on drowning prevention in low- and middle-income countries. The SoLiD project was implemented in seven purposively selected sub-districts of rural Bangladesh. The package of interventions included enrollment of children 9 – 36 months into crèches, playpens, or both, along with community advocacy/educational activities around injury prevention.
Conducted in partnership with the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB), and the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), the project sought to address the alarming rate of childhood drowning deaths through evidence-based interventions and local collaboration.
Since 2017, JH-IIRU and local partners have managed the effective functioning of community daycare centers (creches) in seven rural sub-districts. In 2022, the Bangladesh government announced its plan to scale up the CreCHes (Crèches for Child Health and Safety) project to a nationwide initiative for drowning prevention and provision of early childhood care and development services, called the Integrated Community Based Center for Child Care, Protection and Swim-Safe Facilities (ICBC) Project. This scale-up is a result of constant advocacy and the efforts of a coalition of drowning prevention practitioners and advocates—CIPRB, Synergos, Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), and JH-IIRU, led by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Scalable Solutions to Prevent Childhood Drowning
Home-Based Daycare Reduces Drowning by 88%
Establishing home-based, community-led daycare centers—known as creches—led to an 88% reduction in drowning deaths among children under five.
Economic Impact Through Women's Empowerment
These creches are not only life-saving—they're cost-effective. By enabling mothers to pursue income-generating work, one year of creche services was projected to increase Bangladesh’s GDP by 0.35%.
Long-Term Skill Retention Through Survival Swimming
A partner-led study, in collaboration with JH-IIRU, found that 88% of children who received survival swimming lessons nearly a decade ago still retained their skills.
Sustainable Scale-Up Through National Leadership
A total of 2,198 creches have been transitioned to Bangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA)—the lead agency of the ICBC project. CIPRB and JH-IIRU have conducted a baseline survey on the burden of drowning in the ICBC project areas, and KAP (knowledge, attitudes, and practices) on awareness about drowning prevention measures and positive parenting. The CIPRB and JH-IIRU teams are contributing to training manuals and a monitoring and evaluation framework to track the implementation process and outcomes of the ICBC project.
Data-Driven Planning Through Comprehensive Surveys
A nationwide baseline survey covering 133,389 households across 16 districts has been completed, assessing drowning burden, knowledge, attitudes, practices, and child care norms.