Land Mine / UXO Education and Awareness Project

During the past eleven years, VNAH has been providing prosthetic/orthotic devices and wheelchairs to disabled people in virtually every province and major city of Viet-Nam. This is evidence of the prolonged tragedy of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in this poor country. According to Viet-Nam’s 1999 Government statistics, approximately 40,000 people have been killed by landmines/UXO since the 1975 end of the war, and an additional 70,000 people have been injured. The numbers continue to increase yearly. In our outreach missions to provide prosthetic and orthotic services, VNAH often encounters significant numbers of new landmine/UXO injured victims in need of assistance.

In April 2002 VNAH signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh Provinces to implement a two-year project. The primary objectives of this initiative are to help reduce future casualties and
disabilities caused by landmine/UXO accidents through a focused awareness and education program.

Focuses of the projects are: to improve the local capacity to deal with the problem; to conduct a baseline data survey; to carry out awareness activities; and to assist victims. VNAH will work extensively with relevant authorities, agencies, mass organizations and landmine victims to insure quality results for the projects.