Increasing mobility
Physical rehabilitation is the vital first step towards independence. Having a prosthetic limb or brace can make the difference between exclusion and participation.
Mobility enables people to participate in education, employment and community life.
The Cambodia Trust runs 3 rehabilitation centres in Cambodia where local staff provide prosthetic limbs, orthopaedic braces, wheelchairs, physiotherapy and counselling. The majority of people attending these centres are people affected by polio, landmines/unexploded ordnance, cerebral palsy and clubfoot, as well as people who have been injured by accidents.
Our rehabilitation centres are in the capital, Phnom Penh, and the provincial towns of Sihanoukville (also known as Kompong Som) and Kompong Chhnang. They are entirely staffed by Cambodians and are certified under ISO 9001:2000. The Cambodia Trust was one of the first NGOs in the world - and the first in Cambodia - to attain this internationally-recognised standard.
[Photo © Susan Schulman: Physiotherapist Som Piseth supports a young client as she gets used to
walking with her new orthopaedic braces.]
Positive discrimination
Female staff members have been recruited and trained to care for the needs of disabled women and girls, who are often too frightened or embarrassed to deal with male staff.
We also use positive discrimination to encourage disabled people to work in our projects. Disabled staff members are role models for the community, demonstrating that it is possible to be disabled and to have a job which commands respect.
[Photo © Glen Howey: CBR worker Lim Eng, who is a landmine survivor, making a follow-up visit in the community.]
Community-based physiotherapy
We run physiotherapy/early intervention programmes in the community. These help disabled people and their families to be actively involved in promoting their mobility and functional skills.
Follow-up
Follow-up visits are made to people who receive physical rehabilitation services, to check that limbs and braces are functioning correctly and to assist where further support is needed.
Your support in 2005 enabled us to:
- Fit 749 prosthetic limbs.
- Fit 1,171 orthopaedic braces.
- Make 2,475 repairs to limbs and braces (devices need checking and reparing regularly).
- Provide 1,739 physiotherapy assessments.
- Provide 5,120 physio treatment sessions.
- Distribute 136 wheelchairs.
[Photo © Richard Renaldi]
Cambodia facts & figures:
Cambodia has one of the largest disabled populations in the world, including an estimated 40,000 landmine/UXO accident survivors and 50,000 people affected by polio.
Polio was rife in Cambodia until recently, due to the Khmer Rouge’s destruction of the health service.
Around 43% of the rural population lives below the poverty line of 2,000 riel (30 pence/US$50 cents) a day.
Landmine clearance programmes are making an impact in Cambodia; but 2 to 3 people a day are still reported killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance (Landmine Monitor Report 2004).
The cost of prescribing, making and fitting a prosthetic limb or orthopaedic brace is the same as the average annual income in Cambodia.
[Photo © Wendell Phillips / CIDA]