Story from the field

July 25th – World Drowning Prevention Day

A boat to get to school

In Cambodia, the WHO estimates 7.6 drowning deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, nearly double the average for the Southeast Asian region*; among children aged 5 to 14, it is the leading cause of death.

Yet, it is still rarely discussed: the issue remains confined to daily tragedies—reduced to a list of children, women, and elderly people who lose their lives to something that is absolutely preventable. 

Helpcode Foundation began its prevention program in 2020, responding to requests for help from school representatives we were already working with to promote the right to education. 

In six years, we have trained over 12,700 people in water safety and CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), and more than 1,100 boys and girls in survival swimming. We have also seen a growing interest that breaks through stereotypes: girls from the Cham Muslim minority actively participate alongside their peers from Buddhist families, with attendance now equal between boys and girls. 

One of the changes we are most proud of happened last March, when the director of the Koh Khyorng school asked us for help. Every day, about twenty children from the small island of Koh Thmey travel five kilometers by boat to get to class: a 30-minute journey each way, navigating through the fishing boats crowding the pier. 

A few years ago, the small boat carrying them capsized during a storm: everyone ended up in the water, but fortunately, the community’s prompt intervention prevented any casualties. Eleven of those children do not know how to swim, and the risk they face every day is extremely high. For this reason, the community asked us for a new, safer boat. 

As our experience in development cooperation teaches us, every intervention must first be felt as a common good, and that is exactly how it went: in Koh Khyorng, they already had a clear idea of the type of boat and the costs, and they are already planning how to manage, maintain, and repair it in the years to come. This only happens when a community is directly involved, not just in identifying needs, but also in finding solutions. Together, we are preparing a fundraising campaign that will start in Canada and will be open to anyone in the world who wants to offer their support. 

Helpcode Foundation is evolving in its work: from an actor that implements change, to becoming the greasing in the wheels of local initiatives. Because the goal of cooperation is the end of cooperation. 

We know the problem is far from solved. Following the publication in 2025 of the first national strategy for drowning prevention, we are working on its implementation alongside UNICEF and WHO, under the leadership of the Ministry of Health. And in May, at the invitation of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Huế, Vietnam, we took part in the international workshop on teaching basic swimming and water safety in low-resource contexts: five days split between the classroom, a mobile pool, and the beach, focusing on the WHO practical guide, alongside those who have been running these programs for years in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Tanzania. Those lessons are already being integrated into our program. 

Today, on the day the world dedicates to this silent emergency, we want to look back at where we started and the results achieved. 

Our thanks go to the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, the Municipality of Meyrin, the Waldensian Church, and all the supporters of our program in Cambodia: without you, none of this would have been possible.

To learn more about the program details or to donate:

*July 25th, 2026 marks the fifth World Drowning Prevention Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021. This year’s theme is “Unite to Turn the Tide”: drowning causes over 300,000 deaths a year – 30 every hour – but since 2000, the global rate has dropped by 38%. Prevention is possible. (Editor’s note)

Francesco Olmo Bertini

Country Director, Helpcode Cambodia