Domestic burns prevention and first aid awareness in and around Jamshedpur, India: strategies and impact

This article highlights the strategy for awareness creation regarding burns prevention and first aid and its impact in and around the steel-producing city of Jamshedpur, India. This is a joint venture of the Burns Centre and the Medico Social Welfare Unit of the Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur in collaboration with the Social Service Division of Tata Steel and city schools. The first phase of 5 years has been devoted to general awareness building in the population through two main programmes, namely “Community Awareness Programmes” for the target group of ladies and teenage girls and “School Education Programmes” for the target group of school children of Standard 8 in the steel-producing city. These programmes include audio-visual presentations as well as face to face interactions regarding structure and arrangements in the kitchen, floor level cooking, clothing while cooking, careful use of electrical appliances, pressure stoves, etc. The discussions also include suicidal and homicidal burns prevention strategies. Various competitions for the target group provide feedback on programmes. The growing awareness about burns prevention among school children and community members, and steady increase in the number of patients who use water as first aid, speak about the success of the strategies.