A long recovery.

This young boy was badly burned by electrical wiring, but his injury was made worse by a failed skin graft which led to infection. For the last 3 months he has stayed in the burn unit of Jimma Hospital which covers a population of 20 million people in western Ethiopia.

He is lucky to be here. Staff are used to dealing with the serious burns which occur all too frequently in rural areas of Africa, especially among children, but the burn unit has recently lost its plastic surgeon and staff turnover is high. Regular training and encouragement is vital for standards and patient outcomes to show sustained improvement.

As there is no play area, children are left to sit immobile and wait for the burn to heal. This complicates recovery as regular movement is necessary to prevent skin from contracting, but physiotherapy for burn patients is limited and children often become disabled as a result.

Interburns supports hospitals like Jimma through training them to use the delivery assessment tool (DAT) which shows management and staff where improvements can be made, and also by training staff in the three core levels: Advanced, Essential and Basic Burn Care.

This is just one hospital, but the need for improved burn care in resource poor settings is great. Please support our work.