Hilwai in the Philippines

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Hilwai, the boat helping disabled people in remote Filipino islands

Handicap International is using Hilwaï in the Philippines since 2004. Designed especially to be able to berth on small islands, the 15-metre long boat offers rehabilitation services and fitting of orthopaedic devices to the poorest and most isolated members of the Filipino population.

(c)Handicap International

Life on small islands is very difficult as they are very poorly connected to the rest of the country. Disabled people are more vulnerable due to their isolation and the lack of medical care. The smallest illness or fracture can have dramatic consequences on the situation of an individual, in turn impacting on entire families.

Thanks to the Hilwai, we can now help disabled people who could not previously be reached.

Who do we aim to support?
In areas where people have to fight to survive, disability is a day-to-day reality. There is no medical care, public transport is dangerous and overloaded and people take on dangerous jobs to earn a living (e.g. fishing with dynamite). This results in an increase in the number of disabled people.

Hilwaï supports:

• physically disabled people who cannot access medical and rehabilitation services
• mentally disabled people
• disabled women and children who are an even more vulnerable part of the population.

A complete rehabilitation service
The main activities of Hilwaï are to:

• Identify disabled people and their specific needs
• Provide care at home
• Produce orthopaedic devices, such as artificial legs and wheelchairs
• Train relatives on basic hygiene and healthcare
• Encourage the inclusion of disabled people in their own communities
• Organise specific medical missions, such as orthopaedic surgery, depending on the needs
• Collect data on disability and health to improve services in the future

Each 3-month campaign on Hilwai costs £7,000 and a new leg for an amputee costs £60.

(c)Handicap International

Where is Hilwaï used?
There are around 7,100 islands in the Philippines, 750 of which are inhabited. Hilwaï currently works in the Visayas archipelago, leaving from various key ports to reach the most needy islands. The boat runs for 10 months a year.

The boat’s team comprises 8 people, all experts in their area (e.g. physiotherapy, orthopaedics, inclusion of disabled people) 

The situation of disabled people in the Philippines
7 to 10% of Filipinos have a disability. 3.4 million of them need regular rehabilitation care. There is currently no governmental programme specific to disabled people except for a few laws on disabled people’s rights that are quite difficult to implement.

Mentally disabled people live in extremely difficult situations. They are usually rejected or neglected by their families. There are a few governmental institutions and NGOs that work to improve the care given to these people but a lot more work remains to be done.

In the area of physical disability, Handicap International has been working in the Philippines since 1988 to develop rehabilitation services. We directly manage a rehabilitation centre in Cotabato on the island of Mindanao, which has been the scene of conflict between the Filipino army and the Muslim independentist rebels. On the bigger islands we also provide technical support to 18 orthopaedic workshops managed by local partners. Other private services are available but remain extremely expensive.