Burn Relief in Malawi

BWH’s Jennifer Wall, PA-C, (at left) operates on a young burn patient with members of the surgical team.
Photo courtesy of Africa Burn Relief.

Only 2 percent of homes in Malawi, a landlocked country in Africa, include a stove. Most families cook over a fire on the ground three times a day, and every hut has a raging fire outside of it for warmth at night.

“Kids are face to face with fire all the time,” says Jennifer Wall, PA-C, a physician assistant at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Burn Center.

Given the prevalence of fires resulting from everything from cooking to bathing to cleaning, burns are a frequent and often untreated consequence of this way of life.

Wall has made it her mission to provide resources, skills training and mentorship to local health care providers to create sustainable burn treatment and prevention models in the rural village of Nkhoma, Malawi. Continue reading “Burn Relief in Malawi”