Handicap International's teams began fitting the first orthopaedic devices in Port-au-Prince at the beginning of March. Around 15 people have been provided with temporary artificial limbs, the first stage in the fitting of long-term orthopaedic devices in a few months time.
Our organisation has called on the services of Prosthetics and Orthotics technicians from El Salvador, Togo and France, among other countries, to case-manage amputees in Haiti. Around 15 have been fitted with orthopaedic devices since the beginning of March. This figure is set to increase rapidly.
Handicap International will produce between 300 and 400 emergency artificial limbs and 100 orthoses (such as splints, corsets) in the first six months.
These temporary artificial limbs will then be replaced by long-term prostheses, production of which will be increased gradually. Our goal is to ensure the sustainability of rehabilitation activities in Haiti, particularly through the training of Haitian staff.
A temporary orthopaedic workshop has been set up. It has been supplied with equipment retrieved from the workshop of Handicap International's partner, Healing Hands for Haiti, and additional equipment from Europe and North America.
A large number of amputations were performed after the earthquake struck at the beginning of January. In early February, Handicap International estimated that at least 1,000 artificial lower-limbs would need to be produced. Haiti's main fitting centre before the disaster, managed by the Healing Hands for Haiti association, was largely destroyed, making Handicap International's work all the more necessary. The organisation will be working in coordination with several other NGOs planning to perform rehabilitation activities.
> More information about our response to the earthquake in Haiti
