Tom Mecrow, Researcher and Practitioner

Tom has authored and co-authored a number of documents during his work. Here are a sample…

Programme Development

Aquatic Survival Manual – RNLI, 2013 onwards

International Beach Lifeguard Manual – Student and Instructor – Published by RNLI, 2013 (Also available in French, Portuguese, Thai, Swahili)

First Responder Manual – Published by International Drowning Research Centre Bangladesh, 2011

Drowning Prevention Research 

Key Journal Publications:

Mecrow TS, Rahman A, Mashrekey SA, Rahman F, Nusrat N, Scarr J, Linnan M. Willingness to administer mouth-to-mouth ventilation in a first response program in rural Bangladesh, BMC International Health and Human Rights, Published online: 01/08/2015, DOI: 10.1186/s12914-015-0057-8

“Timely mouth-to-mouth ventilation is critical to resuscitate drowning victims. While drowning is frequent, there are no lay persons trained in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in rural Bangladesh. As part of a feasibility study to create a first response system in a conservative Islamic village environment, a pilot was undertaken to examine willingness to provide mouth-to-mouth ventilation for drowning resuscitation.”

Rahman A, Mecrow T, Mashrekey SR, Rahman AK, Nusrat N, Khanam M, Scarr J, Linnan M, Feasibility of a first responder programme in rural Bangladesh, Resuscitation, Published 02/05/2014, DOI: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2014.04.022

“[Objectives were] to develop and implement a first responder training programme, assess the feasibility of training lay persons with low literacy in rural Bangladesh and determine the acceptability of the programme in the community.”

Mecrow TS, Rahman A, Linnan M, et al. Children reporting rescuing other children drowning in rural Bangladesh: a descriptive study, Injury Prevention, Published online: 31/3/2014, DOI: 10.1136/injuryprev-2013-041015

“SwimSafe, a basic swimming and safer rescue curriculum, has been taught to large numbers of Bangladeshi children since 2006. This study examines the frequency and characteristics of rescues reported by children who graduated from SwimSafe and compares them with age-matched and sex-matched children who did not participate in SwimSafe.”

Mecrow TS,  Linnan M, Rahman A, Scarr J, Mashreky S, Talab A, Rahman F. Does teaching children how to swim increase their exposure to water or risk-taking behaviour in water? Emerging evidence from Bangladesh, Inj Prev 2015 Jan 7. Epub 2015 Jan 7.

“SwimSafe, a basic swimming and safe rescue curriculum, has been taught to large numbers of children in Bangladesh. Teaching swimming potentially increases risk if it increases water exposure or high-risk practices in water. This study compares water exposure and risk practices for SwimSafe graduates (SS) with children who learned swimming naturally.”

Technical Guidance:

Contributor (Water Safety Education), February 2021, International first aid, resuscitation, and education guidelines, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

IMRF/IDRA/IMRF Working group member, June 2020, Resuscitation of the drowned person in the era of COVID-19 disease: A common ground for recommendations, identification of research needs and a global call to action

Contributor, Violence and Injury, 2019, Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS)

Book Chapters:

The following chapters appear in Drowning: Prevention, Rescue, Treatment, published by Springer:

Chapter: Water Safety Skills in Low Resource Settings, in Joost J.L.M. Bierens (Editor), 2014, Drowning: Prevention, Rescue, Treatment,  Springer: London

“Water safety skills are often considered as a vital supplement to the provision of survival swimming as part of a drowning prevention strategy in high-income countries (HICs). However, evidence for their appropriateness and effectiveness in the low-resource environment-of low and middle income countries (LMICs) where most drowning deaths occur – has not existed. In this chapter water safety skills are defined as the practical skills needed to save oneself or another person from difficulty in the water.”

Chapter: Resuscitation in low and middle income settings – Issues to be considered, in Joost J.L.M. Bierens (Editor), 2014, Drowning: Prevention, Rescue, Treatment,  Springer: London

“A number of interventions have been recognised as effective in reducing childhood drowning. Nearly all focus at the primary and secondary level; limiting access to water or teaching survival swimming. However none of these interventions are 100% effective, and for a number of cases a tertiary drowning prevention strategy is needed. Anecdotal evidence from high-income countries suggests that CPR could be effective at resuscitating a drowning victim. Since the WHO estimate that more than 95% of drowning deaths occur in LMIC’s, the feasibility of introducing CPR and its effectiveness within the low-resource environment should be explored and given urgent attention to save more lives.  

This paper explores the challenges related to implementing a large scale CPR program in a LMIC in the context of the chain of survival.”