A World We Dare to Imagine Pt. 3

Hye Unit

When I was in Cambodia, I learned that the number one cause of death for children was burns. I was shocked. There must have been a mistake. Certainly it was from malnutrition or malaria? I can't even remember the last time one of my friends suffered from a burn more severe than from a curling iron. How could this be? Unfortunately, in poorer nations where the population lives in slums, there tend to be large fire pits where women cook inside their huts. As a result, if a mother isn't looking her child may crawl into the fire and burn himself. If untreated, the burn can get infected and kill him. Burns result in the loss of 18 million disability adjusted years, and over 250,000 deaths a year in Africa alone.

I propose an organization called the Hye ("shih") Unit, a mobile clinic which specifically treats burns. In Asante Twi, one of the most spoken languages of Ghana, hye means burn. The World Health Organization (WHO) distinguished Ghana as one of the African countries with the most burn incidents. My clinic will be first made available there. This organization will also have an educational purpose. We will teach community leaders how to prevent burns from happening in the home, to overcome the culture barrier between me and the villagers.

Hye Unit will travel mostly to rural areas, as middle- and low-income households are affected the most by burns as reported by WHO. On board, we will have two nurses, a doctor specialized in burns, and a translator. These people can be rotated out, and volunteers are encouraged. The nurses will be able to educate the community leaders and explain to them how to prevent burns so they can relay the information back to their people. Ideally, I would also like to expand to India where men abuse their wives by pouring acid and burning their skin. This would require an additional educational program in which men are trained to treat women with respect, and women are empowered leave abusive relationships.