Wound healing in resource limited settings
EWMA recommendations and instructions for treating wounds in resource limited settings
The purpose of this website is to provide guidelines and recommendations for treating wounds in resource limited settings, which may for example occur in relation to wars or natural disasters.
The recommendations will primarily target non-professional caregivers and healthcare professionals without specialized expertise in wound management. In connection with the war in Ukraine, the resources have been published in Ukrainian, English, and Russian. While these recommendations remain relevant for professional caregivers, they may also benefit from the referenced literature upon which the guidelines are based.
The overall aim is to disseminate effective and practical guidelines for the benefit of individuals directly affected by wars, natural disasters or other situtions requiring wound care in resources limited settings.
The guidelines have been selected by a group of EWMA experts with experience in wound management within war, crisis, and emergency aid contexts. The chosen guidelines may therefore not necessarily reflect a broad consensus on best practice wound care in resource limited settings.
If you have suggestions on how to meet the need for wound treatment and management in Ukraine effectively, please submit these suggestions to our idea bank by email to ewma@ewma.org.
WAWLC
The World Alliance for Wound and Lymphedema Care (WAWLC) is a global partnership initially started as a working group in 2007 and launched as a not-for-profit association at a founding meeting hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2009. WAWLC is officially registered in Geneva, Switzerland.
WAWLC is an international partner organisation of EWMA.
WAWLC leadership (2026):
- President Dr. David H. Keast, London, Ontaria, Canada
- Secretary General: Dr. Hubert Vuagnat, Aire-la-Ville, Switzerland
WAWLC Secretariat
General contact:
Email: info@wawlc.org
Ressources:
WAWLC has in November 2020 published the second edition of the Wound and Lymphoedema Management first published by the WHO in 2010.
The second edition is re-edited with additional chapters and has a strong focus on the specific conditions and needs characterising resource-limited settings.
The book is edited by David H. Keast, and available for universal free download.
WAWLC Wound Care Principles:
Other guidelines
Other institutions and organisations have developed resources and materials, which are both relevant to the treatment of war wounds and freely available.
As part of EWMA’s Ukraine War Wounds initaitive, we have collected links to various valuable resources.
The resources referenced on this page will have been selected by a selected group of EWMA experts with experience in wound management from war, crisis, and emergency aid contexts.
Joint trauma system - clinical practice guidelines
The Joint Trauma System has published a clinical practice guideline about war wounds.
European Resurcetation Guidelines (ERG)
ERG has published a guideline on basic resuscitation in Ukrainian, that is both highly relevant and valuable to a war wounds context. Please find it here:
Educational podcast from the French Military Health Service on the care of war wounded
Video instructions
EWMA recommends the following instructions but has no ownership or rights of the video content.