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ABOUT ACIDHELP

AcidHelp is Pakistan's first AI-integrated platform for acid attack first aid and support. It is free, and is being built to serve multiple regions across Pakistan.

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Why We Exist

Acid attack survivors in Pakistan lose critical time to first aid misinformation. While toothpaste, milk, ghee, oil, baking soda, and wet cloth are still widely believed to be effective responses to an acid burn, none of them are actually effective remedies. These agents trap acid against the skin and deepen the burn, and in the case of milk and baking soda, react chemically to release additional heat into the wound. In the first thirty minutes after an acid attack, this misinformation determines whether a survivor heals or is scarred for life.

Beyond emergency relief, acid attack survivors face a longer struggle. Reliable information on where to go for reconstructive care, psychosocial support, legal aid, and vocational reintegration is scattered across separate organisations, or unavailable altogether. AcidHelp exists to consolidate that information into a single verified database of acid attack support resources in Pakistan, so that survivors and their families can find, in one place, what has taken others years to piece together.

AcidHelp also exists to spread awareness of what to do after an acid attack. Public knowledge of correct first aid remains one of the most preventable causes of long-term damage from acid violence in Pakistan, and this platform is one contribution to closing that gap.

What AcidHelp Provides

FIRST AID GUIDANCE

Step-by-step first aid guidance for acid attacks and chemical burns.

AI EMERGENCY ASSISTANT

An AI assistant that answers acid attack first aid questions in regional languages.

HOSPITAL DIRECTORY

A directory of hospitals with burn treatment capacity in Pakistan, verified where possible, and expanding as we grow.

SUPPORT NETWORK

Contact details for support organisations offering medical, psychosocial, and legal help to acid attack survivors.

Our Advocacy

Acid violence in Pakistan is a policy failure and a gender-based violence crisis. While The Acid and Burn Crime Act 2018 exists on paper, in practice, acid remains openly available in chemical markets, convictions are rare, and the free treatment the law already promises survivors is not consistently delivered by public hospitals. Meanwhile, the conditions that produce acid violence in the first place — patriarchal control over women's decisions, weak enforcement of gender-based violence laws, and limited economic autonomy for women — remain largely unaddressed.

AcidHelp advocates for:

1 Licensing and identity verification for the retail sale of concentrated acid, in line with the Punjab Hazardous Substances Rules 2018, and extension of those rules to informal markets in every province.

2 Full implementation of the Acid and Burn Crime Act 2018, including the treatment and rehabilitation the law already guarantees, and dedicated prosecutors for acid attack cases so that survivors do not spend years navigating the courts alone.

3 Expansion of burn treatment capacity in public hospitals outside major cities, so that survivors are not forced to travel hours by road for specialised care.

4 EMSB (Emergency Management of Severe Burns) training for Rescue 1122 and Edhi Ambulance Service staff, so that resuscitation begins in the ambulance and not on arrival at hospital.

5 Stronger implementation of Pakistan's gender-based violence laws, including the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, and reliable access to shelters, legal aid, and protection orders for women at risk.

6 Investment in women's education, work, and economic autonomy as the long-term response to gender-based violence, of which acid attacks are the most visible form.

Get Help or Get Involved

AcidHelp is growing. If you are a survivor of an acid attack and would like to share your experience, or if you work with an organisation supporting survivors and would like to get involved with AcidHelp, we would like to hear from you.

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