The East Meets West established the Support Network for People With Disabilities (SN-PWD) in 2006 with a grant from The Ford Foundation. The SN-PWD is an initiative to help create channels of medical and educational services for people with disabilities (PWDs) of various kinds in Quang Ngai province. The main goal is to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities by th e creation of long-term, sustainable channels by which these people can access health care and other services.

Key Goals

• Assist people with disabilities in local areas with direct, effective support so that they can live improved lives that are healthier, longer, more prosperous and enriched by greater options.
• Improve the long-term functioning capacity of the local health care system in Quang Ngai to assist people with disabilities.
• Build/refurbish medical facilities in orthopedics and rehabilitation in Quang Ngai province
• Build capacity for local medical health care staff
• Provide corrective surgeries for 500 people with disabilities
• Provide physical therapy and rehabilitation for people with disabilities
• Provide educational assistance for children with disabilities
• Provide vocational training people with disabilities
• Provide treatment for non-surgical cases

Geography of Program

The program will be implemented within Quang Ngai Province, with specific focus on Son Tinh and Duc Pho District. Quang Ngai is a southern central province lying on the coast in the middle of Vietnam. The province was devastated during the war and has a very high number of people with disabilities, especially disabilities related to dioxin contamination. Son Tinh, a district in Quang Ngai, was the site of the infamous My Lai Massacre (1968). In some areas such as Duc Pho district, accidents from unexploded ordinance still cause casualties. Read more about why EMW is working in Quang Ngai.

Key Statistics

7,761	The number of people the program will directly benefit in the two pilot districts of Duc Pho and Son Tinh in Quang Nam Province
47,000	Estimated number of people with disabilities living in Quang Ngai province
50%	Number of people with disabilities who live below the poverty level in Vietnam

Logic model for this program:

1. The Vietnamese people have suffered, and continue to suffer, from serious health problems related to exposure to dioxin, a powerful mutagen found in defoliants sprayed by the US military during the Vietnam war.
2. Many of these health problems manifest as physical disabilities, such as limb deformities, missing limbs, deafness and other impairments.
3. There are many people, both adults and children, with such disabilities living in areas of the country sprayed heavily with dioxin-contaminated defoliants.
4. Residual dioxin in the environment continues to cause health problems, even 30 years after the end of the war.
5. Current services to assist PWDs are inadequate in many provinces of Vietnam, and personal and government financing for necessary medical and other interventions is highly limited.
6. It cannot easily and inexpensively be determined whether a given individual’s disability was caused by exposure to dioxin.
7. Therefore, a program is needed to assist all PWDs in certain provinces where high volumes of dioxin-contaminated defoliants were used, the need is great and the services limited. In other words, the program should not make a distinction, when offering services, between potential clients affected by dioxin and those considered non-affected.

Local Partners

• Quang Ngai Committee for Population, Family and Children (CPFC)
• Da Nang Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Centre (DNORC)
• Quang Ngai Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange
• Duc Pho District Hospital
• Quang Ngai Orthopedics Station in Son Tinh District, Quang Ngai
• Duc Pho and Son Tinh District Children, Family and Population Committee
• Da Nang and Quang Ngai Vocational Training Centers

"Working with these individuals in this effort is a wonderful extension of EMW’s commitments to Vietnam. This partnership will help EMW realize its goals of providing long-lasting improvements to those most vulnerable and in-need, increasing its program activity in relation to children, and improving the lives of members of Vietnam’s large community of people with disabilities."
- Mark Conroy, EMW Overseas Country Director

For More Information

For more information about this program, contact the Development Team at info@eastmeetswest.org.

 

Pictured at Top: A young man fitted with a new prosthetic, fully-functioning hand during a trip coordinated by EMW, the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation and Rotary Clubs to provide donated hands to people with disabilities in Vietnam. Read more about the trip.