[An overview on the establishment of the system of burn prevention and treatment in China by comparing with that of foreign countries].

The number of burn patients in China is still huge because of the demographic and socio-economical reasons. Distinguished achievements have been made in Chinese burn surgery during decades of development, with a generally acknowledged high survival rate of burn victims. However, there are still many problems, including an emphasis on the treatment rather than on prevention, poor pre-hospital care system, unbalanced development of burn centers, shortage of burn rehabilitation and psycho-social support, shortage of financial support, and underdevelopment of social charity for burn patients. Only if the efforts of the burn centers, government, and the whole society join together can the problems be solved and a good system of burn prevention, clinical care, and rehabilitation be established and perfected. The deficiencies in the development of the system in China and the possible solutions are reviewed and discussed in this paper.