Pilot project in rural western Madhya Pradesh, India, to assess the feasibility of using LED and solar-powered lanterns to remove kerosene lamps and related hazards from homes

Prevention of burn injuries in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review

“…Safety devices such as barriers or playpens may also be effective, but need further independent investigation in order to determine their effectiveness [51][52][53]. Two safety devices highlighted in this review, two types of non-kerosene lamps, do suggest that certain devices on their own may reduce injuries and be more cost effective [57]. Furthermore, whether more broadly targeted population-based initiatives, in some cases via the media, or initiatives involving multiple methods of intervention are effective is less clear.…”

“…Additional limitations not already mentioned include a lack of control groups [51,[56][57][58][59][60] possibly inappropriate or insufficient control or comparison groups [52][53][54][55]; hospital-based rather than population-based interventions [58,59]; non-random sampling [57]; limited description of the intervention [54,58]; older studies [54,59]; small sample size or being underpowered [51,52,55]; biased by being implemented with a cost to some and free to others [51]; lack of exposure to/limited dissemination of the intervention [55]; assessment of hazard reduction rather than injury occurrence [43,52,53]; possible observer bias [43,52,53]; and short time to follow up after intervention [43,52,53,57]. Most importantly, in low resource settings, only three of the studies address cost: Chamania et al address the reduction of 'cost of illumination' per year, and Jetten et al and Swart et al mention some specific costs relating to certain parts of the intervention initiative [51,52,57]. None of these studies address long-term sustainability.…”

“…Further assessment of costeffective and sustainable preventative efforts founded in population-based epidemiology, tailored to at-risk populations, and adapted to the unique environments of LMICs which include end points in a reduction of incidence, morbidity, and mortality of burns, are needed. Chamania et al [57] b u r n s x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) x x x -x x x search, and Patricia Mitchell for additional editing of the final manuscript.…”

“…Of the 12,568 abstracts identified on the initial search, only 11 were found to be full manuscripts involving detailed interventions and measured outcomes on burn prevention initiatives in LMICs [43,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. Notably, together these studies demonstrate that education of targeted groups, specifically of families, school-aged children, and employees in high risk industries, is effective at reducing potentially hazardous behaviors, as well as incidence, morbidity, and mortality from burns in LMICs [43,[51][52][53][54][55][56].…”

“…A study by Chamania et al in 2015 in India investigated the impact of the exchange of kerosene lamps -devices often implicated in burns -with LED or solar powered lamps in terms of the prevention of burns, satisfaction by users, and cost effectiveness [57]. At six months after the intervention, they found no burns in the villages where the lamps were being used.…”