Building the capacity of burn nurses

Tanzania has a population of 63 million but only a handful of hospitals are able to treat burn injuries; there is only one specialist burn centre. Dr Mhavile, Acting Director of Muhimbili National Hospital Surgical Services outlined the magnitude of the problem at the start of Advanced Burn Care (Nursing) in Dar es Salaam which was held in February. 72% of 328 burn patients who were seen in 2022, were children under 10. The death rate of 14.6% is far higher than in high income countries and patients often suffer lifelong disabilities, stigma or increased poverty as a result of a burn injury.

Advanced Burn Care (Nursing) is a 5 day programme covering all aspects of treatment, from dressings to pain management and nutrition, and from rehabilitation to palliative care. Previously delivered in Bangladesh (2016), Ghana (2017), Nepal (2018) and Ethiopia (2019), ABC (Nursing) Tanzania built on Essential Burn Care (EBC) and Basic Burn Care (BBC) delivered at Bugando Hospital, Mwanza, Tanzania in February 2022.

32 participants attended, 25 from central, regional and district hospitals in Tanzania and 7 from Sierra Leone, South Sudan in partnership with Medecins Sans Frontières, Botswana, Lebanon and Switzerland from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

This was the first time that Advanced Burn Care (ABC) had been led by a previous participant of Interburns training from a low resource setting. The Course Lead from Malawi, was supported by Interburns Nursing Lead  (France) and volunteer faculty from Tanzania (4), Ghana (2), India (1), Sweden (1) and Wales (2) including nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians and a surgeon. Over 5 days experienced Interburns faculty were supported by several new faculty, for instance, Nutrition and Rehabilitation sessions were supported by faculty from Bugando Hospital, Mwanza.

Three practical quality improvement projects are ongoing as a result of the training.  Ziphilly Sichinga will share her journey, from being a participant of Essential Burn Care in 2015 to Course Lead of ABC (Nursing) in 2023, at the European Burns Association (EBA) congress in September. 

Our thanks to Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam for hosting the training and to the fantastic volunteer faculty and participants.

We are grateful for funding from the Welsh Government Wales and Africa Grant Scheme, the Lady Yuen Peng McNeice Charitable Foundation, Weill Cornell Medicine (Surgery) USA, and the Souter Trust. As well as ongoing organisational support from the Choithram International Foundation.