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South Sudan’s brutal two-year civil war is forcing an increasing number of civilians, who are often the victims of violence, to flee their homes. Over two million people have been internally displaced or taken refuge in a neighboring country since the start of the conflict. Present in South Sudan since 2006, Handicap International is providing humanitarian response to people caught up in the fighting, particularly in the field of health.

A hospital supported by humanitarian organization Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) in Marat al-Numan, 280 kilometers to the north of Damascus, was destroyed in an air strike on Monday 15th February. Seven people were killed in the attack and dozens injured.

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 organization 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 program’s first beneficiaries.

A UN Security Council Open Debate on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict will be held on 19th January 2016. Handicap International urges States to take action against the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, which killed or injured 32,000 civilians in 2014.[1]

On 25 April 2015, Nepal was rocked by an earthquake, affecting 8 million Nepalese people. Khendo, 8 years old, lost her leg in the disaster. After more than six months of rehabilition sessions with Handicap International, she received a prosthesis and can now walk again. Khendo will soon return to school.

Handicap International began working in the Tibet Autonomous Region - where its many projects were designed to promote the social inclusion of people with disabilities - in 2000. In mid-2015, the organization withdrew from the region and entrusted the follow-up of its projects to its former local partner, the Tibet Persons' Federation.

On 12th January 2010, an earthquake devastated Haiti, killing over 230,000 people and injuring over 300,000. In order to help the victims, Handicap International deployed resources on an unprecedented scale. Today, the organization is continuing its work with the Haitian people.

At the start of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, many people with disabilities did not know about Ebola because the national public awareness campaign did not share information in formats they could understand.

Handicap International, present in Sierra Leone since 1996, stepped in to ensure people with different kinds of disabilities knew how to prevent the disease. 

‘This is not something you can do if you aren’t passionate about it’. This was the first thing Jonathan Matambo said to me, the mine detection dog handler who joined Handicap International’s demining team in Casamance, Senegal, last September. The 33-year old divides his time between his family, who live in Harare, Zimbabwe, and his two explosive detection dogs, Katja and Rex.

At nine years of age, Katja is something of a veteran. However, each day this female Belgian Shepherd comes to work with fresh energy and enthusiasm. She has worked in an impressive number of African countries: Kenya, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo... and thanks to her exceptional sense of smell she has detected dozens of explosive devices.

Although the conflict between the Senegalese army and the rebel forces of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) appears to be slowly fading, populations still face the threat of anti-personnel mines. At the beginning of December, Handicap International launched a mine-clearing program. The first operations in the village of Diagnon, east of Ziguinchor, began in mid-December and aim to clear 30,000 square meters of land of mines, barbaric weapons that primarily kill and mutilate civilians.

This December, UK school students and campaigners from Cornwall to the Highlands raised their voices for the victims of conflict in countries like Syria, as part of the Forgotten 10 Challenge. Students raised awareness among their peers, Pyramids of Shoes were built, Tea at 10 coffee mornings took place, and lots of support was gathered for the Stop Explosive Weapons petition.

As the world marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December, Handicap International reports that 75% of people with disabilities believe they are excluded from humanitarian response. Closely involved in international forums such as the World Humanitarian Summit and the current Conference on Climate Change (COP21), Handicap International is calling on the international community to ensure people with disabilities are taken into account when preparing and implementing humanitarian response to crises.

Handicap International’s demining operations have been running since 2011 in the province of North Lebanon, and more recently have been deployed in the province of Mount Lebanon. The civil war, which tore the country apart between 1975 and 1990, left swathes of land rendered unusable by landmines. This land has now been cleared and handed back to the local inhabitants.