Prosthetics & Orthotics training for students from low-income countries
The Cambodia Trust runs an education centre, the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO), where men and women learn to fit prosthetic limbs (prostheses) and orthopaedic braces (orthoses).
The aim of CSPO is to create the foundation of sustainable physical rehabilitation services by producing qualified specialists with the skills and knowledge to provide support for disabled people. The training of local specialists reduces reliance on expatriate expertise.
To find out more, please visit CSPO's new website: www.cspo.org.kh
[Photo © Susan Schulman. Prok Chansinoun, Assistant Lecturer, with Nelson da Silva, a student from East Timor.]
Accreditation & Certification
CSPO is accredited by the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics as a Category II training centre. CSPO is the only school of prosthetics and orthotics in the world to hold ISO 9001:2000 certification for its education programme.
Positive discrimination
CSPO encourages women to train in prosthetics and orthotics. Unless rehabilitation centres have female staff, many women and girls will not attend. In Cambodia, the goal is to have at least one female prosthetist-orthotist in each rehabilitation centre across the country.
The school also attempts to ensure that disabled people have the opportunity for training. CSPO currently has 36 students, including 18 women and 6 disabled people.
[Photo: student Ros Thyda during an upper limb training seminar]
Regional role
CSPO is a regional school. Currently we have students from Afghanistan, East Timor, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan (self-supporting), Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as Cambodia.
CSPO is run in collaboration with:
The Royal Government of Cambodia
Handicap International Belgium
Handicap International France
International Committee of the Red Cross
Veterans International Cambodia
Impact:
110 students have graduated from CSPO since the school was established in 1994, including 70 from Cambodia.
Each prosthetist-orthotist prescribes 270-300 devices per year.
Therefore around 33,000 limbs and braces a year are prescribed and fitted by CSPO-trained prosthetist-orthotists working in rehabilitation centres in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar (Burma) and Sri Lanka.
In addition, many of CSPO's first graduates have progressed to teaching or managerial positions, further increasing the impact of their initial training.
[Photo: Kheng Sisary, one of CSPO's first female graduates, with a client at an upper limb seminar held at CSPO.]