International Disease Burden of Hand Burns: Perspective from the Global Health Arena

Measuring the extent and impact of a health problem is key to being able to address it appropriately. This review uses available information within the framework of the Global Burden of Disease studies to estimate the disease burden due to burn injuries of the hands. The GBD indicates that since 1990 there has been an approximately 30% decrease in the disease burden related to burn injuries. The GBD methods have not been applied specifically to hand burns, but from available data, it is estimated that about 18 million people in the world suffer from sequelae of burns to the hands.