Technician building a prosthesis

The Vietnam War ended in 1975. But, even today many rural Vietnamese become war casualties. This is due to the ever-present threat of anti-personnel land mines left behind in fields and villages by the war's opposing armies 33 years ago.

Exploding mines are an especially big problem in remote areas of central Vietnam, where they disable people on a daily basis. The result is a need for prosthetic and orthotic devices (artificial limbs and braces) on an immense scale.

Fortunately, mine victims--as well as people disabled in other accidents in these rural areas--are today being fitted with free artificial limbs, thanks to Viet-Nam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH), a non-profit charity based in the United States.

Over the past 10 years, VNAH has provided over 48,000 prosthetic and orthotic devices in Vietnam, funded in part by The Nippon Foundation. Today, both organizations are intensifying their efforts to assist Vietnam's disabled citizens in all of the country's 61 provinces. The emphasis, however, remains on the country's central region--home to the largest proportion of mine victims.

The population there is mainly comprised of ethnic minorities that do not have easy access to urban treatment centers for the disabled. In this state of affairs, VNAH and Nippon Foundation assistance is going directly to them in these distant, mountainous regions, where governmental resources have not been able to reach.

VNAH also works with the Prosthetic and Rehabilitation Centers in Can Tho, Danang, Qui Nhon and Ho Chi Minh City to provide training and technical assistance, improving the overall quality of assistive devices delivered.

Much work remains. According to VNAH, Viet Nam has one of the highest disability rates in the world. More than five million Vietnamese (over 6% of the population) have a disability, leaving Viet Nam with one of the world's lowest incomes per capita and highest rates of disability. However, The Nippon Foundation's assistance is making a clear difference to the quality of life for many of these mine victims and disabled people.