#WDP36 – More than a popularity contest…

In 2015, the first Women in Global Health list was published. It was a list of 100 leading women working in global health, and it has since grown to include more notable women in the field. It was started by Ilona Kickbusch, Director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She was bored of attending conferences and panels where she was the only woman speaker. She decided that she needed to showcase women in global health and asked her Twitter followers to nominate women to the list. The idea caught on and the list grew.

At the World Conference on Drowning Prevention 2017 in Vancouver, Canada, a similar Twitter campaign was run using #WDP36 to find a list of 36 leading women in drowning prevention. Why 36? Because some amazing women work to prevent 360,000 drowning deaths every year and that’s something to shout about. Women were nominated on Twitter with the only criteria being that they play an active role at the forefront of drowning prevention. The aim of the list is increase visibility of women working in drowning prevention, highlight the contribution of women in advancing both research and practice and to offer role models to young women. Women are listed alphabetically by surname. Like the Women in Global Health list, the Women in Drowning Prevention can grow with time. This is only the beginning…

1. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Bennett – Oversees the Drowning Prevention Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital with expertise in preventing drowning in at-risk immigrant populations
2. Jennifer Blitvich – Australian professor with expertise in injury prevention and risk management in aquatic environments
3. Ruth Brenner – American expert on portable pools and child drowning
4. Barbara Byers – Public Education Director of Lifesaving Society in Canada
5. Tessa Clemens – Canadian Researcher at Sick Kids Hospital leading on non-fatal drowning
6. Kathy Collingsworth – Founder of Joshua Collingsworth Memorial Foundation, drowning prevention charity in Nebraska, USA
7. Shelley Dalke – Canadian Red Cross Director of Swimming and Water Safety Programmes
8. Joan Duncan – Canadian long-time advocate for women and youth representation in drowning prevention
9. Mai Elamin & Sabrina Kashif – General Secretary and Vice President at Nile Swimmers working together to promote women and water safety in Sudan
10. Christina Fonfe – Founder of Women’s Swimming Project in Sri Lanka
11. Suchada Germongkolgam – Programme Manager for National Drowning Prevention Programme in Thailand and advocate for nationwide drowning prevention strategies
12. Fiona Gosling – Founder of Josh the Otter Foundation, drowning prevention charity in Nebraska, USA
13. Emma Harrison – Operations Manager at Royal Life Saving Society – Commonwealth
14. Natalie Hood – Australian doctor with focus on drowning physiology and treatment
15. Rebecca Ivers – Director of Injury Division at The George Institute
16. Jagnoor Jagnoor – Head of the Injury Division at The George Institute, India Office with focus on drowning prevention in LMICs including Bangladesh
17. Olive Kobusingye – Ugandan doctor and researcher with focus on LMIC injury and drowning prevention
18. Justine Leavy – Australian academic with focus on collaboration for evidence, research and impact in public health
19. Caroline Lukaszyk – Public health researcher working on community drowning prevention programmes for different cultural contexts
20. Jo-ann Morris – Co-founder of Samuel Morris Foundation and water safety advocate with focus on improving understanding of burden of non-fatal drowning
21. Helen Morton – Royal National Lifeboat Institute International Head of Advocacy
22. Lauren Nimmo – Senior Manager for Promotion and Research at Royal Life Saving Western Australia
23. Joan Ozanne-Smith – Australian public health researcher with focus on injury prevention
24. Amy Peden – Researcher at Royal Life Saving Australia leading on non-fatal drowning and river drownings in Australia
25. Linda Quan – Emergency medicine doctor and drowning prevention researcher at Seattle Children’s Hospital with an interest in at-risk immigrant communities
26. Ana Catarina Queiroga – Portuguese drowning prevention researcher and co-founder of the International Drowning Researchers’ Alliance
27. Nadina Riggsbee – Children’s health advocate who initiated the Swimming Pool Fencing Law in USA after her toddlers drowned in a backyard pool, one fatally and the other non-fatally
28. Rebecca Wear Robinson – American drowning prevention advocate and CEO of Make The Minute Matter
29. Colleen Saunders – South African researcher and chair of Lifesaving South Africa’s Scientific Advisory Committee
30. Bhagabati Sedain – Nepalese social scientist collecting drowning data in Nepal to identify appropriate interventions
31. Pamela Simon – National Learning and Development Manager at Surf Life Saving Australia
32. Jenny Smith – UK lecturer in sport and exercise psychology who consults for Amateur Swimming Association and Royal Lifesaving Society UK
33. Carolyn Staines – Australian researcher in forensic medicine
34. Teresa Stanley – New Zealand researcher with focus on water competence and drowning risk education
35. Elizabeth Towner – Expert adviser to the World Health Organisation’s Panel on Injury and Violence Prevention
36. Asma Ul Hosna – Training Coordinator for Saving of Lives from Drowning at Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh