Royal Life Saving’s latest Keep Watch campaign highlights a staggering 41% of drowning deaths among children under 5 in Australia occur in 1-year-old toddlers.

Its alarming research reveals that, over the past 18 years, 507 children aged 0 to 4 have drowned. 207 (41%) were children aged 1 year or below.

Royal Life Saving says the risk of drowning triples as soon as a child starts to crawl, peaking shortly after a child’s first birthday.

Royal Life Saving is also highlighting that sadly for every fatal drowning in this age group, there are a further 8 children admitted to hospital following a non-fatal drowning. Some will sustain lifelong brain injuries as a result.

Steven Gazzola, the Operations Manager at Royal Life Saving's Australia, tells CAAMA the importance of teaching our young ones how to swim.