Raising awareness of burns in northern India.

Burns are a significant cause of death and disability in India, particularly in rural communities. There is very limited public awareness of how common burns are and how they should be treated. A lack of effective first aid often leads to worse injuries. Burns are often a devastating and life-changing injury that leaves many patient with serious disability, making the prevention of burns from occurring a high priority.

One of Interburns’s partners in India, the Burn Care Foundation in Guwahati, Assam, has been running numerous awareness programmes to make people in their region more aware of how to prevent and treat burn injuries. In February, they held a burn awareness day with the Association of Surgeons of Assam.

The day started with a public rally from NEMCARE Hospital to spread the message of correct First Aid and Prevention. The rally of around 100 people and was led by Indian film actress Smt. Moloya Goswami. An exhibition, depicting developments in burn care at Guwahati and ‘First Aid and Prevention of Burn Accidents’ was also inaugurated by Dr Manoj Kr. Choudhury, President of the Association of Surgeons of Assam at NEDFI House.

Events like these are crucial in raising awareness of burns in India and elsewhere in Asia. Interburns would like to offer our sincere thanks and congratulations to Dr B.P. Sarma and his colleagues at Nemcare Hospital for this successful programme and their continuing dedication to changing the picture of burns in their region. That dedication is clear in their continuing initiatives to improve burn care and prevention in Guwahati and the wider Assam region.