La Corporación de Ayuda al Niño Quemado (COANIQUEM), or the Corporation for the Support of Burned Children, was created on April 19, 1979. It is a private non-profit institution whose main objectives are to provide comprehensive rehabilitation entirely free of charge to children with burns, prevent the occurrence of childhood burn injuries and train professionals and technicians in burn-related treatment and therapy. Our main partners are Rotary International Club de Santiago and the Agencia de Cooperación Internacional de Chile (AGCI). This year we were accredited to DPI.
During our 36 years of serving the public, we have treated more than 120 thousand patients, from Chile and many other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. We now have three rehabilitation centers, in Antofagasta (north), Santiago (center) and Puerto Montt (south), each separated by a distance of over 1000 kilometers. Our patient treatment features an all-inclusive approach, including reconstructive surgery and physical, psychological and spiritual rehabilitation. We also provide accommodations, food and maintenance of school studies for patients coming from remote areas of Chile or abroad.
COANIQUEM has trained more than 300 health professionals from twenty countries. Modules are transmitted on site, via the Internet or through Skype. Participants are sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Thanks to this support, COANIQUEM now offers international scholarships. For additional scholarship information, please visit info@coaniquem.org.
We have sponsored and monitored similar nonprofit burn treatment centers in the region, notably CERNIQUEM in Bolivia and ANIQUEM in Peru. Our greatest challenge is to provide new professionals with the latest techniques and innovations in burn treatment. We continue our search for funding to enable us to achieve this goal.
According to the Third IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI 2006, OANIQUEM, is considered the most experienced rehabilitator of burned children in the world.
Dr. Jorge Rojas Zegers
Presidente Ejecutivo
(left) Dr. Jorge Rojas Zegers