Our case study is concerned with the public health issue of child drowning in Bangladesh. The community of Bangladesh is largely dependent on the major elements of its geography: the waterways. The cultural, commercial, and even spiritual existence of the population of Bangladesh is firmly intertwined with the rivers, with boats being a major mode of transportation and many communities relying on rivers such as the Ganges for bathing, drinking, and cooking.

Unfortunately, this poses a significant public health risk especially to minors, as became evident when the rate of death by drowning reached 43% for children of ages 1-4 in a Global Health Survey in 2014 (WHO, 2014).

The solution? We don’t have one yet…

This blog will help us document our journey to finding one, based on the Design Thinking Process model. Our goal is to identify the immediate dangers that need to be addressed, as well as long-term solutions, and develop an engineering-based fix to highlight preventative or monitoring-based needs relative to the community of Bangladesh.