Tonmoy is a 13-year-old boy from Bangladesh, who loved climbing trees and running.  One day, while running through the house, he bumped into the stove and knocked over a pot full of boiling water severely burning his skin.  His doctors did not think that Tonmoy would survive but he did and through the many painful surgeries that followed.  But the scarring from all the burns and surgeries caused his skin to tighten and prevented him from returning to his passion of climbing trees.
His friends ostracized him because of his scars and he turned to art to combat his isolation.
Tonmoy was lucky, though, because he was one of 3,000 burn victims treated by ReSurge International. Reconstructive surgery has let Tonmoy return to his love of climbing trees and his interest and skills in art have been strengthened
by his increased functionality and motor ability.
Unfortunately, burns like Tonmoy’s are common throughout low-income countries, where 95 percent of the world’s fire-related burns occur. Severe burns remain a hidden health crisis in developing countries, particularly for poor women and children.

Every 5 seconds someone is severely burned – nearly 11 million people annually – and almost all of them live in developing countries (ReSurge International).  Of the 330,000 people who die of burn injuries every year, only about 23,000 live outside developing countries.  For those who survive, even fairly minor burn injuries can needlessly cause permanent disabilities.  Burn survivors often are stigmatized and shunned, hindering their ability to be productive citizens.
Burns are acutely tied to poverty.  Half of the world still uses open fires for cooking, heating and/or lighting. In these households, disabling burns are frequent.  Burn prevention programs are almost non-existent in low-income countries.  Overcrowded living conditions, lack of proper fire safety measures, loose clothing worn by women and insufficient parental supervision of children are other factors.
ReSurge International works towards correcting the damage of improperly or untreated burns.  Today, more than 55 percent of ReSurge’s surgical work is related to burns.  More than 2,700 surgeries were performed last year to restore functionality to burn victims, giving them hope and increasing their productivity.  In addition, the medical teams of ReSurge recognize the need for education and training of local medical teams on the proper treatment of such burns and the need for immediate treatment of these burns.  They are also expanding their programs to include education on fire safety in hopes of preventing these burns from occurring in the future.
Barco’s Nightingales Foundation is proud to partner with ReSurge International in this life-saving work.