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The uprising in Libya which began on 17 February 2011 has led to fierce clashes between forces loyal to Col. Gaddafi and rebel fighters.
Handicap International took immediate action in the field. The association provided initial one-off support in early February in two Tunisians hospitals overwhelmed by a flood of injured persons following the demonstrations. The orthopaedic and traumatology services were supploed with specialised medical equipment worth $42,195.

On 4 March the association sent a team of emergency specialists to Tunisia to support our operations in the region. For several weeks, this team provided logistical support to solidarity committees set up spontaneously to help displaced persons.

Handicap International also ^performed its first risk evaluation relating to mines and unexploded remnants of war in mid-March, leading to an emergency risk education mission targeted at the population under threat in early April.

In March, Handicap International launched an evaluation mission to assess the needs of refugees in Liberia, making use of the teams already in place in the country. This mission also looked at the effects on the Liberian families who, despite their already very basic living conditions, have taken in the refugees.

At the beginning of April, the organisation opened its first Disability and Vulnerability Focal Point (DVFP) in Liberia, in Zwédru, in the form of a mobile unit. Its brief is to reach out to the most vulnerable populations, ensure they are recorded with the humanitarian stakeholders in the field, provide them with assistance adapted to their needs, ensure their specific needs are met and facilitate their mobility. "This is particularly important as the situation of the host families who already live in conditions of considerable poverty, has worsened with the additional burden of taking in refugees," explains Cécile Dupré, member of Handicap International’s emergency response team in Liberia.
In order to adapt to a constantly fluctuating situation, Handicap International also decided to implement specific actions in the border region between Liberia and the Ivory Coast, to provide assistance for the most vulnerable populations.

Mid-April, when security conditions allowed, two emergency response specialists (including a physiotherapist) went to Abidjan to provide support for hospitals in coordination with other humanitarian stakeholders present in the capital. They were joined by several other physiotherapists who worked in Abidjan’s hospitals to provide emergency rehabilitation for the injured and vital follow-up to avoid the onset of permanent disabilities.

Human resources

• Some 540 people, including around 60 expatriate staff.

• Since 14 January 2010, some 170 expatriate staff from more than 20 different countries have been sent to Haiti by Handicap International.

• Since January, more than 600 Haitian staff have been provided with training.

Health

• More than 10,000 beneficiaries of Handicap International’s health activities.

• More than 82,000 basic care and physical rehabilitation sessions performed.

• Some 5,600 technical aids (mobility aids, orthopaedic devices and specific equipment) have been distributed.

• Prostheses: 426 beneficiaries recorded (fitted or currently being fitted).

• Orthoses: 465 recorded beneficiaries (idem).

Psychosocial assistance

• Some 25,000 beneficiaries, including 500 provided with regular follow-up care.

Logistics/distributions/“cash for work”

• Some 20,000 tonnes of aid transported (food, basic emergency equipment, medical equipment and reconstruction equipment) since 14 January 2010 for around one hundred organisations.

• More than 5,000 tents distributed to more than 26,000 people.

• More than 30,000 items of equipment distributed to over 43,000 people.

• More than 36 tonnes of food supplied to more than 10,000 people.

• More than 4,000 people have benefited from “cash for work” activities.

• More than 80 transitional shelters have been supplied to 330 beneficiaries.