Interburns

Quality improvement for burn services is a proven tool for reducing death and disability from burns, especially amongst young women and children. While primary prevention is crucial, secondary and tertiary prevention - reducing the severity of injuries and decreasing the frequency and severity of disability after an injury respectively - are also important strategies in reducing the burden of mortality and morbidity. The WHO estimates that the provision of adequate burn care in LMICs could reduce the overall mortality rate from burns by 30%. By working with 14 government and NGO burn services in Bangladesh and Nepal, Interburns will be reaching an annual patient population of approximately 35,000 patients, including 6,000 inpatients (typically with major, severe or complex burns that cause serious disability or death) and 29,000 outpatients (with smaller burns that can still result in burn contractures and cause significant disability if improperly treated). The great majority of these patients are among the poorest members of society who cannot afford private health care. Burn injuries and the high cost of treatment have a devastating impact on already impoverished families and communities. It is widely recognised in the international burn community that hospital admissions only represent the ‘top of the pyramid’ and a huge burden of burn injuries never reach health services. Community-level interventions including research, awareness-raising and primary prevention programmes are absolutely vital in reducing death and disability from burns. This programme will build on the foundations of GPAF-INN-034 and move beyond the service focus of that project to introduce community-level primary prevention and coordinated national programmes in burn prevention.

Interburns has developed the first set of operational standards for burns services in Low and Middle Income Countries, guidelines that define the staff skills and knowledge, equipment and operational capabilities required to achieve good outcomes for burn patients, despite limited resources. This project will pilot the standards in Bangladesh and Nepal, using training and education programmes to drive improvements in burn care in 14 selected burn services across both countries, ranging from small rural units to national burn centres in Dhaka and Kathmandu. The project will address a target population of more than 10,000 burn patients - the majority children and young women - improving the quality of care they receive and reducing the massive burden of preventable suffering, death and disability from burn injuries in Bangladesh and Nepal.;