Addressing Disabled People's Lack of Access to Orthopedic Services and Equipment

Implementing Partner: International Polio Victims Response Committee (IPVRC)

Funding Period: September 2006 - September 2009

Funding Amount: $749,990

Purpose: Provide treatment opportunities and access to mobility and orthopedic services and equipment for people with disabilities in Kinshasa and Bunia.

Objectives

• Continue to provide free orthopedic services, equipment, and equipment repairs for disabled persons in the population centers of Kinshasa and Bunia
• Develop the potential of the new IPVRC medical and educational sponsorship mechanisms for disabled children
• Continue to promote full social and societal integration of disabled persons, and to foster a greater understanding of disability among the non-disabled population. Support partner organization, Congolese Association for Orthopedic Assistance to Youth with Disabilities [Association Congolaise pour l'Assistance Orthopédique aux Jeunes Handicapés (ACAOJH)] policy of providing youth who have received leg braces with one semester of school fees to attend a neighborhood school
• Assist youth who have received leg braces in attending school with confidence
• Gain support for IPVRC activities from a variety of institutions and individuals
• Increase IPVRC visibility and collaboration with other organizations in the DRC and abroad

In DROC, IPVRC works through a local partner, the Congolese Association for Orthopedic Assistance to Youth with Disabilities, to produce custom-manufacturers leg braces, using primarily locally manufactured materials. The project then gives those braces to young people with disabilities who cannot afford them. After a young person receives braces, s/he can stay at a project-funded "rehabiltiation home" until s/he adjusts to the braces. The rehabilitation homes are staffed by older people with disabilities who can provide positive role models for youth with disabilities. After a brace recipient leaves a rehabilitation home, the project follows up to make sure that braces are repaired or replaced as needed.

The program also aims to integrate children with disabilties into mainstream schools. It provides one-semester scholarships to children who have received braces to encourage them to attend school. Children with disabilties who do attend schools learn that they have the ability to function in mainstream school settings, and they provide positive examples to their peers, to teachers, and to their communities.