Prioritising burn prevention within Sustainable Development Goals

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Global Health
• Injury Prevention

Background:

• Burn injuries represent a significant global public health challenge, disproportionately impacting impoverished, marginalized communities, children, and women.
• While high-income nations have reduced burn mortality and disability, outcomes remain poor in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the relevance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to burn injury prevention, care, and rehabilitation.
• To advocate for the adoption of burn-specific SDG targets and indicators to improve monitoring and multisectoral action.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relevance to burn injury.
• Analysis of progress on SDG targets related to burn injury outcomes.
• Identification of the need for context-tailored burn-specific SDG indicators.

Main Results:

• Numerous SDG targets are indirectly relevant to burn injury prevention, acute care, rehabilitation, and social reintegration.
• Progress on many relevant SDG targets is slow or stagnating, indicating a need for focused interventions.
• The lack of explicit burn-specific targets hinders policy attention and multisectoral action.

Conclusions:

• Urgent adoption of aligned, burn-specific SDG targets and indicators is crucial for LMICs.
• Multisectoral action and tailored strategies are necessary to address the global burden of burn injuries.
• Without dedicated commitment, burn injury prevention will not receive adequate policy focus.