A study on unnatural deaths among women in Bengaluru undertaken by Vimochana - a women’s rights organisation co-founded in 1979 by Aweksha’s founding team - in the late 90s found that deaths resulting from burns accounted for a majority of unnatural death cases among women in Bengaluru. This research served as the precursor to what has now become our Burns Care intervention, which has spanned 27 years, continuing through Aweksha since 2021.

At the Burns Centre at Victoria Hospital, our team provides end-to-end support to women with burn injuries, who often sustain burns as a result of domestic violence. We assist patients in recording statements, ensure arrangements for drinking water and provision of a burns-friendly diet, and refer them to shelter homes, when needed. We also provide patients with medical equipment, medicines, psychotherapy and physiotherapy.

In addition, we have introduced a single-window programme that serves as a one-stop centre to help with the needs of burn survivors and their families. Through this programme, we assist survivors in applying for government schemes for persons with disabilities and receiving their monthly pension. We also follow-up cases of acid attack survivors with the Karnataka State Legal Service Authority in order to ensure that they receive the compensation to which they are entitled.

We also regularly organise blood donation camps in several colleges, as well as public and private firms to enable burns survivors to have access to blood during the course of treatment as well as for procedures such as skin grafting and reconstructive surgery. In addition, we help subsidise the educational costs of children of burns victims as well as children with burns. Moreover, we organise peer support groups so that survivors can find belonging within a community and to encourage their reintegration into larger society.