WHAT
WE DO

Drowning is a global problem and is most common in low- and middle-income countries. Studies show that natural water forms the greatest risk of drowning for adults. In addition, people living in flood-prone areas are also at greatly increased risk. This risk is worsened by climate change which causes an increase of flooding. The Swim Foundation focuses therefore in coastal areas.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) tracks data and  drownings statistics. Therefore we have good insight into countries where drowning takes a high toll. This is expressed in the number of fatal drownings per 100,000 inhabitants per year. The average is worldwide at 3.12 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants (in the Netherlands 0.44 per 100,000).

The Swim Foundation focuses on countries where the number of drowning deaths per 100,000 inhabitants is above 5.0 (see map of the countries in blue).

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The Swim Foundation works with a 'high impact - low cost' strategy. This means that in our planning we work with country clusters as much as possible - in particular to keep one of our biggest expense items (travel) as low as possible. The main clusters are:
1. Caribbean and South America
2. Africa
3. Southeast Asia and Oceania