Ukraine War Wounds

The purpose of this website is to provide guidelines and recommendations for people treating wounds as an effect of the current war in Ukraine.

The recommendations will first and foremost target targets non-professional caregivers and health care professionals without wound expertise. These will be published in Ukrainian, English and Russian as soon as we have translations ready. Recommendations are still relevant to professional caregivers, who may benefit additionally from the literature on which the recommendations are based (references listed in documents).

The website will continuously be developed and also address chronic war wounds. The overall aim is to get effective and practical guidelines into circulation for the ultimate benefit of people directly affected by the war in need of wound care.

The recommendations and guidelines will be chosen by a select group of EWMA experts with experience in wound management from war, crisis and emergency aid contexts. The chosen guidelines are thus not based on a broad consensus.

If you have suggestions on how to serve the need for wound treatment and management in Ukraine in an effective manner, please forward these suggestions to our idea bank at: jb@ewma.org

Translations of practical guidelines are also available in Ukrainian and Russian (See language sections).

Providing modern Wound dressings, with little means

Basic wound care for non-medics (algorithm)

The algorithm includes guidance on how to prepare before wound care and to perform:

general patient health status assessment
wound assessment and cleaning
wound dressing and follow-up

The recommendation first and foremost targets non-professional caregivers and health care professionals without wound expertise.

Patient Algorithm For Pressure Ulcer Self-assessment

This algorithm defines the steps of a pressure ulcer risk assessment and the needed prevention and care.

Water Disinfection – practical recommendations for resource-limited settings

Clean and clear water is very important for the treatment of most wounds. Soaking the dressing with water will make it easier to remove.Washing wounds (both acute and chronic) will help clean them from debris but also germs. When no cleansing solution is available, simple tap water is enough.

If you have no access to such water, here are a few tips to obtain reasonably clear and safe water.

Wound disinfectants – practical recommendations for resource-limited settings

Remember that clean and clear water, used in great quantity to rinse a wound, is often enough to keep them clean and prevent infection. However, in some cases, especially if there are infectious signs, the use of a disinfectant can be required.

Here are guidelines for alternative homemade disinfectants helpful in a resource-limited setting.

Thermal burns – practical recommendation for resource-limited setting

Thermal burns are a quite frequent cause of wounds. They result from exposure to excessive heat sources. Among them, fire, boiling water, steam and other hot gazes and metal in fusion.

Here are a few practical recommendations on treatment.

Frostbites – treatment and prevention in resource-limited setting

Frostbites are common in cold climate and mainly affect extremities (hands, feet, nose, ears). They are secondary to both direct action of cold (freezing tissues, water crystals formation) and reactive (vasoconstriction).

As usual, prevention is important. Here are a few tips.