CONCLUSIONS 46

participated (91%), representing 99% of the Region’s population. These were: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

In 2018, a questionnaire was developed to gain an understanding in each of the participating countries on:

● the scale of drowning burden; ● the development and status of action plans, laws and policies that respond to challenges of drowning prevention; ● the status of existing national, multisectoral collaborations to address drowning; ● the availability of drowning data and reporting mechanisms; ● the availability of drowning prevention interventions at the community level; and ● any technical assistance required to address shortcomings.

National reporting took place over a period of nearly 15 months, from January 2019 to March 2020. Final responses were validated and officially cleared by the relevant government ministry of the respective Member State.