On August 31^st, 2016, Handicap International and the United States Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) completed a year-long partnership, during which the organization was able to provide assistance to thousands of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, thanks to funding provided by PRM.

Beginning Sept. 1, 2015, Handicap International began implementing a yearlong project in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. The goal of this project was to address the essential needs of the most vulnerable Syrian crisis affected persons in the country. This project included the implementation of various services such as rehabilitation sessions, caregivers’ support, and the delivery of assistive devices, prosthetic limbs and orthotic braces to injured and/or Syrian refugees with disabilities.

The results of this cooperation exceeded Handicap International’s expectations. While Handicap International and PRM had planned for 1,250 refugees to benefit from rehabilitation services throughout the year, teams reached almost 1,500 Syrians with physical and functional limitations. Ninety percent of these people showed a measurable improvement in their autonomy, mobility and quality of life. Beneficiaries included people with injuries, temporary impairments and disabilities, older people with functional limitations, and people living with disabling chronic conditions.

Handicap International expected to deliver assistive devices, customized or pre-made orthotic braces and prosthetic limbs to about 600 Syrian refugees throughout the year. Yet by Aug. 31, 2016, more than 900 people had benefited from these services.

Moreover, PRM and Handicap International’s cooperation allowed more than 750 caregivers to improve their capacity to provide quality care to people with physical and functional limitations. When surveyed, 90% of caregivers said they’d noted an improvement in their capacity to provide assistance to their relatives.

Handicap International identified and now supports four local partners in the Beqaa Valley. This operational strategy, which will be reinforced through a follow-up PRM grant, promotes local ownership and sustainability of services, in line with the priorities established by the humanitarian community and national authorities.

These encouraging results convinced PRM and Handicap International of the strength of their partnership and the two entities will start a new project in Lebanon together in September 2016.

A new Handicap International report, Syria, A Mutilated Future, released on World Refugee Day, sheds light on the devastating impact of explosive weapons on Syrians. The report finds that 15% of reported Syrian victims of explosive weapons are amputees, and 80% are traumatized and suffer serious psychological distress.

The report studied 25,000 people with injuries who were either displaced in Syria or refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, and were receiving help from Handicap International between June 2013 and December 2015. The Syrian conflict caused 67% of their injuries, with explosive weapons to blame for 53% of the cases, and gunshot wounds accounting for 20%.

The use of explosive weapons in populated areas has terrifying consequences. Eighty-nine percent of people injured by explosive weapons have a temporary or permanent disability; 80% of them show signs of severe psychological distress; 66% feel unable to perform essential daily tasks mainly because of anxiety, stress or physical or mental exhaustion.  

While 47% of people interviewed for the report have simple or complex fractures caused by explosive weapons, and 15% are amputees, appropriate medical services are seriously lacking due to the collapse of the health service in Syria, or, in neighboring countries, the inability of medical structures to meet the needs of injured refugees. This has a serious impact on patients, including lifelong pain, amputation, deformed limbs, disability, or even death.

All parties to the conflict use this type of weapon on a massive scale, with terrible consequences for civilians. “Because these explosive weapons have a blast or fragmentation effect, they kill or cause complex injuries,” explains Anne Héry, head of advocacy at Handicap International. “Their widespread use, combined with the absence of appropriate medical care and psychological support in Syria has a devastating impact on people’s lives. With more than one million casualties in Syria, an entire generation is going to suffer the consequences of these weapons.”

Handicap International continues to call on parties to the conflict to put an end to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and to ensure access to humanitarian aid in order to meet the needs of people affected by the conflict.

In September 2015, Handicap International launched an international campaign to end the bombing of civilians. The organization is calling on States to sign a political declaration to end the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and to recognize the suffering of civilians. To achieve this, Handicap International has co-founded INEW (International Network on Explosive Weapons), a coalition of international and national organizations.

Methodology: The figures on injuries were collected by Handicap International and its partners through face-to-face interviews with displaced people and refugees in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, refugee camps and villages and neighborhoods in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon (region of Beqaa) between June 2013 and December 2015. The analysis is based on a total of 68,049 beneficiaries assessed by Handicap International’s teams, of which 25,097 are injured: 14,471 in Syria, 7,823 in Jordan and 2,803 in Lebanon.

Read the full report here

Handicap International and the Syrian crisis: More than 600,000 people have benefited from Handicap International’s actions since the organization launched its Syrian Crisis operations in 2012. The organization provides physical rehabilitation services and psychological support, and distributes emergency aid to meet the basic needs of casualties, people with disabilities and particularly vulnerable individuals. Handicap International also issues awareness-raising and safety messages targeted at local populations to prevent accidents caused by explosive remnants of war.

Meet a few of the people our donors help by clicking here.

This month, I hope to call your attention to something that means a lot to me: the fates of millions of people with disabilities and injuries caught up in the Syrian crisis. March 15 marked the 5^th anniversary of the conflict, which has injured more than 1 million civilians, leaving thousands of them with a  disability for life as a result of  the loss of limbs or spinal cord injuries. Countless people who already had a disability or illness are left in a desperate situation.