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From Syria to Yemen, Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar and Tunisia, the use of banned explosive weapons increased significantly in 2014 and 2015. To mark International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, Handicap International is calling for an immediate end to the use of these weapons.

Since 1996, HI has managed a physical rehabilitation centre in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. This centre is the only one providing comprehensive services to disabled people across the whole region. We visit the centre with Rasool, the officer in charge of our activities in Kandahar province.

Malnutrition hampers children’s physical and mental development, leaving them in an extremely fragile state of health. Handicap International is responding to the particularly acute problem in the Sahel. Over the next two years, the organisation intends to limit the impact of malnutrition in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, to ensure that children in the Sahel can grow up in the best possible health.

Since 2014, Handicap International has been running an inclusive education project in Senegal in the regions of Dakar and Ziguinchor. One of the project’s flagship initiatives is to provide medical consultations in primary schools for the early screening of pathologies which might lead to a delay in learning or even to the affected children dropping out of education. Adama Awa Ba, 12 years old, is one of the programme’s first beneficiaries.

There is a high prevalence of disability in Cuba. One third of people with disabilities have an intellectual impairment. Handicap International’s project aims at improving the living conditions of people with disabilities and their families and promotes their inclusion in communities in Piñar del Rio province, in the west of Cuba.

The Arms Trade Treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 2nd April 2013, an important step in the fight against weapons proliferation. Handicap International is working in 20 countries to raise awareness of the risks posed by small arms and explosive remnants of war.
 

The sun has just come up. After the team has loaded up the equipment, Aziz, Handicap International's Head of Demining Operations, motivates the troops and reminds them of the day's objective: demining the village of Diagnon, located around fifty kilometres out of Ziguinchor. 

In response to the crisis in the Central African Republic, Handicap International has set up a logistics hub to make it easier for humanitarian organisations to access vulnerable people in isolated areas of the country.

For one year now Yemen has been torn apart by a conflict that has killed over 3,000 civilians. The humanitarian needs are immense. Since October 2015, Handicap International has been providing care for the injured. Over 1,200 people have already been helped by the organisation.

Present in Nepal for 15 years, Handicap International was able to launch an immediate response to the devastating earthquake that struck the country on 25th April 2015. Taking advantage of advance preparations for natural disasters in the country, we were also able to draw on our expertise in providing care and treatment to earthquake victims.

More than 8,700 people were killed and over 22,000 injured when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on 25th April 2015. Handicap International launched an immediate relief effort to help the most vulnerable individuals. One year on, we continue to supply aid to earthquake victims.
 

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador on the evening of Saturday 16th April. On 20th April, 587 people were reported to have been killed and more than 8,000 injured. According to the United Nations, more than one million people (of a population of around 16 million) may have been affected. The country has suffered considerable material damage and it is not possible to access entire areas of the North West.

High in the Kathmandu Valley, Uma and her family are rebuilding their lives step by step following the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Their family home was destroyed in the disaster and Uma lost her leg. But after learning to walk again, the young woman is determined to support other people with disabilities.

After losing both legs in the 2015 Nepal earthquake, Ramesh Kitra has been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement for the other young amputees in the rehabilitation centre. Even before he was fitted with prosthetic legs, Ramesh was active, learning wheelchair tricks and taking part in a race in Kathmandu.

Handicap International, with UNICEF's support, led a vast awareness-raising campaign in schools on the risks of mines and explosive remnants of war. The campaign took place near the front line where the Ukrainian army is fighting the pro-Russian militia, between October 2015 and February 2016. Over 5,600 children aged from 6 to 18 received risk education.