Meeting of the Group of Friends for Drowning Prevention

On 27th March, the Group of Friends for Drowning Prevention met at the Permanent Mission of the Principality of Monaco, for a dialogue with Ms Gemma MAY, head of the British NGO "Royal National Lifeboat Institution" (RNLI ), which also acts as the secretariat for the Group of Friends, Drs Werner OBERMEYER of WHO-New York, and Raoul BERMEJO of UNICEF, as well as the representative of Thailand who presented the substantial progress made following the mobilization of her Authorities.

In her opening remarks, H.E. Mrs. Isabelle PICCO, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Principality of Monaco to the United Nations, recalled how important it is to learn to swim at a young age and cited the partnership between the Princess Charlene Foundation of Monaco and the RNLI.

Discussions between the 40 delegations present helped identify concrete measures to better understand this "silent killer" affecting more than 360,000 people a year. Delegations were invited to address this issue at the UNICEF Executive Board, the WHO Executive Board, the WHO World Assembly next May, and also during the High-level Political Forum and at the High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage next September.