Increasing Drowning Prevention Awareness and Creating Safe Waters in Uganda.
Reach A Hand Africa is an indigenous, youth-centered, non-governmental organization founded in Uganda in 2011. It focuses on youth empowerment programs with an emphasis on adolescent and youth sexual reproductive health and rights (AYSRHR), HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, climate change, and livelihood improvement for young people aged 10 -30 years old.
Reach A Hand Africa, in partnership with Design Without Borders, Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), and Makerere University School of Public Health, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, is implementing a drowning prevention initiative titled “Increasing Drowning Prevention and Awareness and Creating Safe Waters in Uganda.” The program works to reduce drowning incidents around inland water bodies such as Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga, and Lake Bunyonyi. The interventions focus on community awareness, survival swimming training, capacity building of local and national stakeholders, and development of swimming curriculum documents.
Through the community-based awareness activities and the Omanyi Okuwuga (Do you Know How to Swim) campaign, the initiative has reached over 3000 children and young people in person and over 5M online in high-burden districts in Uganda. Portable swimming pools have been set up in key areas to enable community-based survival swim instruction and water safety skills. The interventions target vulnerable communities where drowning remains a major public health concern.
Reach a Hand Africa is committed to advancing community resilience and prioritizing water safety as a public health issue. This is achieved through the strategic integration of behaviour change communication, the building of strong partnerships with local governments, and the implementation of school-based water safety education programs.
