Nepal, Feb. 18 -- Serious burn incidents in Nepal have been all too visible in the past one month. On February 6, a gas explosion at a momo restaurant in Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu, injured 11 people, and has led to four deaths as of this writing. More recently, at the inaugural event of the Pokhara Visit Year 2025, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel and Pokhara Metropolitan City mayor Dhanraj Acharya, among others, sustained injuries when the hydrogen-filled balloons they were to release caught fire.

These incidents, however, are the tip of the iceberg, as burns and related injuries are extremely common in Nepali households and are the second most common injuries in rural areas, contributing to 5 percent of dis...