One of our passions at Barco’s Nightingales Foundation is to help improve the lives of children and their families by supporting volunteer nurses and medical missions that serve those in need. In our work with nonprofits dedicated to this effort, we hear much about burns as a global healthcare crisis.
We took a closer look at this important issue and were startled learn that every 5 seconds someone is severely burned – nearly 11 million people annually – and that 95% of these victims live in developing countries.

The facts speak for themselves:
–According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burns account for an estimated 265,000 deaths annually, the majority in low- and middle-income countries.
–For those who survive, even fairly minor burn injuries can needlessly cause permanent disabilities. Non-fatal burns are a leading cause of prolonged hospitalization and disfigurement or disability, which often leads to stigma, rejection, and abandonment.
–Burn injuries disproportionally cause economic hardships in low-income countries. Severe burns leave their victims with disabilities that cost more than $80.2 billion a year in lost productivity (wages and skills) alone and almost all (95%) of that economic burden occurs in developing countries – undermining economic and social development where it is needed most.
–Burns are closely tied to poverty. Half of the world still uses open fires for cooking, heating and/or lighting. In these households, disabling burns are prevalent. Overcrowded living conditions, lack of proper fire safety measures, loose clothing worn by women and insufficient parental supervision of children are other contributing factors.
These figures are staggering, but we know that by continuing to work with organizations that understand the social, economic, cultural and medical issues around burns, we can make a difference.
Thank you for your support.
~Michael and Frida Donner