Prof. Dalia Gamal Aly & Dr. Ragia Hany Weshahy
Egypt

 

The project led by Dalia Gamal Aly and Ragia Hany Weshahy, professor and lecturer of Dermatology at the National Research Center in Giza, Egypt, is a collaboration with the Ahl Masr Foundation, an Egyptian non-profit organization providing support to burn victims and offering a preventive and awareness program on burn accidents and their consequences to the most marginalized communities.

 

The project aim is to provide treatment to burn victims, to help their rehabilitation into the community and to work on the prevention and the development of safe practices in order to limit burn injuries.

 

The actions carried out include:
– Identification of risk factors that may result in burn injuries
– Improvement of awareness on how to treat burn injuries
– Education of vulnerable groups (burn prevention measures, fire-fighting techniques, first aid measures…)
– Financing and connecting vulnerable populations with hospital burn care units
– Providing free dermatological treatment and psychological support.

 

Raising awareness on burn accident prevention is important for vulnerable groups such as women and children. Education on burn first aid minimises the impact of the injuries. Within the project program, burn patients are able to travel to hospitals with a burn care unit where a highly qualified medical team (including surgeons, dermatologists, psychotherapists) can take care of them. The treatment expenses are waived for these patients.
With burn care and psychological help, patients regain self-esteem and quality of life.

 

Since the beginning of the project in 2013, more than 1,000 burn victims have benefited from this program of dermatological care.

 

With the grant, the awardees would like to extend the project to create help for more burn victims and set up a robust monitoring and evaluation system to assess current treatment and improve patient outcomes.

 

[Photo credit: Ahl Masr Foundation]