Join us to hear how 12 civil society organizations from 11 countries across Africa and Asia turned their new skills into results.
On April 20th, Joyous Ampurire and her daughter, Witness Akansasira, drowned when a canoe capsized on Lake Bunyonyi. Their deaths were deeply personal to one family, but the questions they raise are national. What makes a journey on Uganda's waters safer? Who is responsible for reducing risk? And what must change before another family carries the same loss?
In Ghana, drowning poses a critical public safety and national security issue, requiring an urgent shift in policy priorities and resource allocation. For too long, drowning has been perceived as isolated accidents or personal tragedies rather than a systemic public health problem. It is an urgent yet overlooked public health crisis in Ghana, claiming an estimated 1,100 to 1,400 lives each year. This mortality rate is driven by legislative and funding gaps and inadequate enforcement of water safety regulations. To address these challenges, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator would like to partner with local partners in Ghana to work in line with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global PROTECT framework and national drowning prevention priorities to drive sustainable policy changes.
In Ghana, drowning poses a critical public safety and national security issue, requiring an urgent shift in policy priorities and resource allocation. For too long, drowning has been perceived as isolated accidents or personal tragedies rather than a systemic public health problem. It is an urgent yet overlooked public health crisis in Ghana, claiming an estimated 1,100 to 1,400 lives each year. This mortality rate is driven by legislative and funding gaps and inadequate enforcement of water safety regulations. To address these challenges, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator would like to partner with local partners in Ghana to work in line with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global PROTECT framework and national drowning prevention priorities to drive sustainable policy changes.
In March 2026, Việt Nam marked a defining milestone, transitioning its child drowning prevention programme from a donor-supported pilot into a fully nationally owned initiative. Over eight years, the partnership between the Government of Việt Nam, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) helped more than 75,000 children learn survival swimming skills and reduced drowning mortality by 16% in the areas where it operated — results that position Việt Nam as a reference point for countries building sustainable drowning prevention systems.
Between 2018 and 2025, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, partnered with the Government of Vietnam to implement a World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended survival swimming program that fundamentally transformed national child safety and reduced overall child drowning.
Between 2018 and 2025, GHAI assisted the government and local partners to orchestrate a transformative, strategic communications campaign that helped to secure landmark national drowning prevention policies that now protect millions of Vietnamese children. Through innovative media partnerships, evidence-based storytelling and multi-level stakeholder engagement, we transformed awareness into action that changed behaviors, influenced policy and created lasting systems for continued impact.
In Việt Nam, a groundbreaking partnership between the national government and international partners is on track to reduce the national drowning burden by 20%. By securing dedicated funding streams and pursuing innovative partnerships, two high-burden provinces have provided a blueprint for sustaining their drowning prevention programs.
Read more about our event, “The Future of Global Health Advocacy" that was held alongside the UN General Assembly last month. The event featured global health experts to discuss why strong policies and public investment in health systems are essential to improving health at scale.
On February 2, 2022, GHAI hosted the first episode of Advocacy in Action— our newest series of conversations taking listeners behind the scenes of campaigns that save lives— via Twitter Spaces. Mena El-Turky introduced the conversation between GHAI Communications Director Jennifer Patterson and GHAI’s new Senior Vice President, Lucy Martinez Sullivan, about the power of advocacy.
On November 4, 2021, GHAI celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and heard from GHAI’s global team and national partners how our mission grew from the successes and lessons learned from the global tobacco control movement — and where we go from here.
On August 31, 2021, GHAI hosted a Twitter Spaces conversation with an exploration of “locally led advocacy” — what it means, why it’s important, how to do it, and how to do it better and addressed a number of questions confronting the global health community.
On May 25, 2021, GHAI hosted a conversation about how advocates can advance effective public health policies in a world disrupted by COVID-19—disruptions that underscore the urgency of health advocacy even while making some traditional advocacy activities more difficult. This event was held alongside the 74th World Health Assembly.
On September 22, 2020, during the 75th U.N. General Assembly, GHAI convened representatives from across government, civil society and philanthropy to discuss the journey to health program sustainability and explored how international donors and local leadership can work together to plan, design and advocate for public health initiatives for sustainability from the beginning.
We support the government of %countryName% as they implement proven drowning prevention interventions.
