Fifteen PWDs undergo gait training in Batangas
 Handicap International sent its orthopedic technician and physiotherapist from its Hilwaï team to Lipa City, Batangas last October 23-30 to provide gait training to 15 persons with disability identified in Lipa and surrounding areas. The 15 beneficiaries are the recipients of prosthetic devices or artificial limbs that will help them regain their mobility after having developed disabilities from different causes such as diabetes, vehicular accidents, infections and gunshot wounds. HI staff provided them with gait training to help them adapt quickly to walking with the aid of a prosthetic device custom-made according to their own individual needs. The project is part of a joint initiative of HI and Rotary Club International to benefit persons in need of prostheses in the southern Luzon area.
Filipino surgeon from Palawan awarded the Sasakawa Health Prize
The prestigious World Health Organization (WHO) Sasakawa Health Prize for 2007 was awarded to a Filipino surgeon who was trained in the United Kingdom and returned to serve his people in the communities of Palawan, his native hometown in the Philippines. Last May 17, Dr. Jose Antonio Socrates, founder of the UK-based British Palawan Trust and its local counterpart BAHATALA Inc., attended the awarding ceremonies during the World Health Assembly at the UN Headquarters in Geneva. Funded by Mr. Ryoichi Sasakawa, chair of the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation and president of the Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation, the prize is given to individuals and organizations who have made outstanding and innovative contributions in health development, in order to encourage the further development of such work. Dr. Socrates has worked with HI in the development of an orthopaedics manual for midwives, nurses and health workers (Ortopediks sa Tahanan at Barangay) and to doctors without access to x-ray (Primary Rural Hospital Orthopaedics). He has been serving the communities of Palawan for more than 15 years by promoting and practicing appropriate orthopaedics and rehabilitation. In his acceptance speech, Dr. Socrates challenged WHO to “give higher priority to the disabled sector’s technical needs in pre-hospital care and attention,” and “to actively promote appropriate orthopaedics.”
USAID officials visit HI Wheelchair Production Center in Misamis Oriental
 Last April 24, the HI Wheelchair Production Center welcomed visiting officials from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) which is the center’s principal funder. Present during the visit were Philippine Mission Director Jon Lindborg, Economic Advisor Robert Barnes and Regional Legal Advisor Sean Callahan who toured the center facilities and were given a briefing and project updates by the HI team headed by its Country Program Director Benjamin Gobin. The project is now in its third year of implementation. For the project year June 2006 to May 2007, the center was able to achieve a total production of 189 multiple-type wheelchairs which were delivered to affiliated distribution units nationwide.
Handicap International’s Current Activities in Albay
Food relief:
 1,088 food relief packages have been distributed in the surrounding municipalities of Mayon Volcano. Since most of the reliefs of the other organizations were distributed in evacuation centers, Handicap International (HI) is trying to reach those in the remote areas living in makeshift houses. The next batch of relief goods is on its way and will be targeting the most in need rather than a massive food distribution. These family packs no longer contain kitchen equipment anymore and instead will have soap and detergents due to the spread of skin and infectious diseases.
Medical operations:
HI has set up a medical and psychosocial team in Camalig, Albay. Medical missions have started and disease control operations will continue in the next six months. HI is concentrating the medical operations in the towns of Daraga and Camalig after coordination with other organizations.
HI will also conduct stress debriefing trainings to different organizations in the field in order to assist them in dealing with the people. Several cases of acute stress disorder have been identified already and a referral system is being established with DOH for proper attention in a mental health clinic in Naga.
Sanofi Pasteur has donated 10,000 shots of anti-tetanus vaccines with syringes. HI will be conducting immunization in the barangays where people are digging to recover buried construction material such as GI sheets. These people are more prone to tetanus.
HI also provided logistical support to the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières who worked in Rapu-Rapu Island.
Partners and Sponsors:
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Le Club (French Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines)
Sanofi Pasteur
Paris Manila Technology Corporation (PAMATEC)
BMW Owners Society and Safe Riders of the Phils. (BOSS)
Simon of Cyrene
Private individuals
UP Diliman org holds fundraising concert for Handicap International
Handicap International is set to be the sole beneficiary of LoveROCKed, a matchmaking event and concert party organized by the UP Organization of Business Economic Majors (UP OBEM). LoveROCKed is a cause-oriented rock concert that celebrates entertainment at its best diverse form. It is envisioned to be a welcome concert to jumpstart the Valentines, a showcase of entertainment genres in the forms of dance and music to promote the arts, and a benefit event for Handicap International Philippines to further their cause. This culminating party will include performances from commercial bands, celebrity dating games, human bidding, and the like.
Performing are major and underground artists such as Imago, Sitti Navarro, Mojofly, Stonefree, Calla Lily, Aizo, Avelin, Chubibo, Hilera, La Passionaria, Makatha and Sandata. It will be held at Club Oh (formerly Dish), ABS-CBN Compound on February 9, 2007. Tickets are available at the gate. For further details, please contact Flo Torres at 920-5301 to 99 local 290.
Swiss Ambassador to the Phils. joins culmination of Southern Leyte Project
Swiss Ambassador to the Philippines Dr. Peter Sutter joined the culmination of the eight-month Southern Leyte Project that provided follow-up emergency medical assistance, psychosocial support and rehabilitation assistance to the mudslide victims. Hilwai, the HI mobile rehabilitation boat, was also deployed to the area and assisted in the provision of home/community-based rehabilitation services and assistive mobility devices for disabled persons (crutches, wheelchairs, and prosthetics). Highlight of the activity was the reenactment of the Southern Leyte tragedy through a theater play.
Handicap International supports standardization of wheelchair manufacturing and distribution in the Philippines
 Handicap International – Philippines Program has partnered with the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) for a consultation on the standardization of wheelchair manufacturing and distribution in the country. It brought together wheelchair riders, manufacturers, concerned local government agencies, and other organizations working for and on behalf of persons with disabilities. More meetings are in the pipeline to develop plans for the drafting of the guidelines. These guidelines will contribute in ensuring that only well-built and suitable wheelchairs will be given to the riders.
JICA President Visits HI Philippines Cotabato Office
 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Her Excellency Sadako Ogata visited and inspected Handicap International – Philippine Program’s Prosthesis/Orthosis Production Workshop and Rehabilitation Center in Cotabato City, which was established through the Grants Assistance for Grassroots Projects of the Embassy of Japan in Manila to support war victims and disabled persons in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and surrounding areas in Central Mindanao. JICA has extended funding assistance to HI – Philippine Program in recent years to train village health workers, community volunteers and other humanitarian actors on community-based rehabilitation. Madame Ogata met with prosthesis/orthosis, wheelchair and other mobility devices and center- and home-based rehabilitation beneficiaries and the training participants
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