'A best practice model of efficiency and partnership'.

Excerpt from the International Health Activity in Wales Rapid Review prepared by Dr Kit Chalmers and Bernard Okeah on behalf of the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) March 2021.

Interburns is a Civil Society Organisation set up in 2006 with the aim of transforming burn care in LMICs, which see 95% of the world’s burn injuries, predominantly in children. From a self-funded link between burn surgeons in India and Wales, it has developed into a global organisation with programmes in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, Nepal, the West Bank and more.

This activity is supported by just two dedicated staff, plus a network of engaged clinicians across the world, who spread training and good practice between institutions and countries. This represents a best-practice model of efficient use of resource and meaningful partnership engagement.

Interburns is linked through its leaders to the Centre for Global Burn Injury Policy and Research (CGBIPR) at Swansea University, which works to develop strategies that will reduce the incidence of burn injuries and improve patient outcomes. Together with Interburns, in 2017 the CGBIPR won a substantial NIHR grant and was designated an NIHR Global Research Group on Burn Trauma, working to strengthen research capacity in its partner LMICs.

A suite of free-access resources has been developed to improve the outcome of burn injuries, including online courses, operational standards for institutions, a guide to improving quality of care, and a first aid handbook translated into 10 languages.

Countless lives have been saved or improved through implementation of the practices the organisations promote, and those involved have won awards and accolades. Between them, Interburns and the CGBIPR have demonstrated the power of academic and non- profit collaboration in transforming healthcare, and have put Wales on the map as a global leader in burns care.

The CGBIPR has hosted major international events in Wales, attracting high-profile representatives from all over the world, and Interburns has shared its resources with major organisations such as the WHO, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Médecins Sans Frontiers. But a “perfect storm” of changes, including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Brexit and new opportunities for staff, now threatens Interburns, and the CGBIPR is closing. This will be a loss for Wales and for the world, and calls for a pause for thought on how such a precious resource could be supported, for mutual benefit, in the future.