- Person
- Michael Bloomberg
- Lived
- b. 1942
- Field
- Financial data & media
- From
- American
The story
Drowning is the third leading cause of death from unintentional injury in the world, claiming about 300,000 lives each year. More than 90 percent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and children under five are at greatest risk. In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death for children aged one to four. Most of these children drown in small bodies of water within 20 yards of their homes, often at times of day when no adult is watching them.
Bloomberg Philanthropies' public health programme, led by the epidemiologist Kelly J. Henning, is best known for its work on tobacco control, road safety and polio. In 2012 it took on this less familiar killer. It funded the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to run a two-year demonstration study of practical ways to protect young children, including community childcare centres and playpens.
The work was later carried out in partnership with the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh. Rather than relying on expensive technology, it concentrates on two simple forms of help: supervised childcare for the youngest children, and survival swimming lessons for older ones. Bloomberg Philanthropies established and funded about 2,500 childcare sites in Bangladesh, and it has supported community childcare for more than 50,000 children. According to the Daily Telegraph, child drowning deaths have been reduced by 80 percent as a result.
The approach has been adopted by the government itself. In February 2022 Bangladesh approved a 32 million dollar, three-year national programme that took over the foundation's childcare sites and added 5,500 more, providing supervision for 200,000 children aged one to five, with Bloomberg Philanthropies giving technical help.
Building on that success, the foundation has backed tailored efforts in Ghana, India, Uganda, Vietnam and the United States, and in 2024 it announced an additional 60 million dollars for drowning prevention in those countries and Bangladesh. In Vietnam, survival swimming lessons have reached more than 400,000 children since 2018. The programme also supported the World Health Organization's first global reports on drowning, helping put a neglected cause of child death on the world's health agenda.
Why it matters
Simple childcare and swimming programmes funded by Bloomberg have saved the lives of many young children, and governments are now scaling them up.
About Michael Bloomberg
Fired from Wall Street in 1981, he built the Bloomberg Terminal and a global news empire, then served three terms as New York’s mayor and became one of the world’s largest philanthropists.
More about Michael Bloomberg
- Michael Bloomberg's plan created 160,000 affordable homesAs mayor, Michael Bloomberg increased funding for affordable housing through a plan that created and preserved an estimated 160,000 affordable homes in New York.
- Michael Bloomberg helps mayors govern betterThrough the Mayors Challenge and the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, Michael Bloomberg has rewarded city innovation and trained hundreds of mayors.
- Michael Bloomberg made New York's workplaces smoke-freeIn 2003 Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned smoking in all New York City indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants, and many cities and states followed.
- Michael Bloomberg helped close coal plants across AmericaIn 2011 Michael Bloomberg gave 50 million dollars to the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, expanding its push to replace coal-fired power plants with clean energy.
- Michael Bloomberg backed America's Black medical schoolsMichael Bloomberg gave 100 million dollars in 2020 and 600 million dollars in 2024 to America's four historically Black medical schools.
- Michael Bloomberg made Johns Hopkins medical school freeIn 2024 Michael Bloomberg gave 1 billion dollars so that medical school at Johns Hopkins would be tuition-free for students from families earning under 300,000 dollars.
- Bloomberg gave over a billion dollars to fight tobaccoMichael Bloomberg’s foundation has committed more than $1.6 billion since 2007 to reduce tobacco use, making it the developing world’s biggest funder of tobacco control.
- Michael Bloomberg funds safer roads and polio eradicationBloomberg Philanthropies has committed $865 million to global road safety since 2007, partnering with the WHO from 2009, and has given $200 million to help eradicate polio.
Michael Bloomberg in the news
- September 24, 2026Bloomberg Philanthropies expands free school eye care to seven more US cities
- August 19, 2026Michael Bloomberg gives $155 million for a public science hall in Boston
- June 22, 2026Bloomberg commits about $590 million to oceans, clean energy and cleaner city air
- April 28, 2026Bloomberg pledges $350 million more to cut road deaths in 13 countries
- March 10, 2026Michael Bloomberg tops the Philanthropy 50 for a third year with $4.3 billion in gifts
- February 24, 2026Bloomberg Philanthropies awards $1 million each to 24 cities in Mayors Challenge
Sources
- Bloomberg Philanthropies Wikipedia
- Preventing Drowning Bloomberg Philanthropies
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.