Burns mortality in bombay

Abstract

DOMESTIC accidents from burns are an important public health problem in Bombay. This is largely due to the adverse socio-economic conditions prevailing in the city. A high proportion of Bombay’s population lives in slums. Recent estimates state that at least one in every three citizens in Bombay is a slum dweller. There are several pockets of such unsanitary, unsafe and substandard dwellings all over the city. Its suburbs and its extended suburbs covering a population of nearly 24 million out of a total of 8 million living in the 437 km2 area of Bombay’s geographic boundaries. Most of the families, whose individual numbers range from 5 to 15 members, live in small 3 m by 4.5 m or even smaller huts, the total living area incorporating sitting, sleeping, eating and cooking activities. Women cook on the floor, on open firewood or coal stoves placed inside their houses or outside on verandahs if such provisions exist. Many women also cook on kerosene stoves, this is however a recently cultivated habit and hence many of these users are still not sure how to handle the stoves safely. Flooding the stove with kerosene and pumping it excessively, holding children in their arms while cooking are all familiar sights (see Fig. 1). The kerosene container itself is often left foolishly beside the open fire. The family do not seem to realise the hazards of any of these procedures. Sometimes there are two fires in the same room which houses two families operating separate kitchens.