KhAPO

Cambodian Association of Prosthetists and Orthotics

KhAPO, for the very first time, published an article on The Cambodia Daily, an English-newspaper in Cambodia. The article was published on 30 April 2009 with totally financial support from Handicap Internatoinal. Below is the whole article that I extracted.

Physical rehabilitation in Cambodia is within the auspices of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) and currently is predominantly supported by international non-governmental organization, Cambodia Trust, Handicap International (Belgium and French sections), International Committee of the Red Cross and Veterans International.

Physical rehabilitation services largely began in Cambodia as a response to landmine and unexploded ordinance (UXO) survivirs, and services have expanded in the last few years to include services to clients who have mobility difficulties due to other disabling conditions. The causes of disabilities are changing and this is also reflected in the physical rehabilitation centers (PRCs), with an increase in clients accessing services as a result of accidents, diseases and illness. In year 2007, there were 29,441 clients with physical impairment received services from the 11 PRCs out of that 46% were amputees, 13% Cerebral Palsy (CP), 10% Club Foot (CF), 10% Polio, and 21% were others; and among those pathologies, the PRCs have provided 4,153 prostheses (artificial limbs) and 5,121 orthoses (braces).

The people who are working to fit artificial limbs and braces are called prosthestist and orthotist. Cambodian Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (KhAPO) was established in 2002 to professionally bond all Cambodian prosthetists who are working in 11 PRCs around the country. The mission of KhAPO is “To enhance the quality of services of prosthetics and orthotics (P&O) in the field to a high standard of practice in terms of P&O care provision to people with disabilities (PWDs) in Cambodia“.

The rehabilitation service is free of charge. However, this sems to be not widely aware in the remote areas, and many amputees still use home-made artificial limbs. P&O service is one of the most important rehabilitation services that demands well-rounded professionals and properly trained staff. Most members of the association received 3 years training, international diploma at the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO) to be able to assess, prescribe, fabricate, fit and adjust anykind of P&O devices. In industrialized nations, prescription of P&O devices is made by physicians, whereas with limited human resource and scarce knowledge in this field, prosthetists and orthotists are required to be trained in prescription principles. A number of Cambodian prosthetists/orthotists were upgraded to a Bachelor Degree in P&O from La Trobe University in Australia and Tumaini University, Tanzania. The upgrading is to ensure the best possible quality physical rehabilitation services for PWDs in Cambodia. An effective rehbilitation not only demands involvement from an active interdisciplinary team such as medical doctor, orthopedic surgeon, psychologist, prosthetist/orthotist, physiotherapist, occupatonal therapist, technician and other rehabiliation members but also demands involvement from clients, his or her family and the society as well. General awareness of disability should be raised to encourage a positive discrimination toward PWDs, particularly the rights of PWDs, education, employment opportunity for PWDs as well as advocacy for Cambodian society.

KhAPO holds monthly board meeting to discuss the technical and clinical challenges encountered by prosthetists and orthotists around the country. Every year, KhAPO arranges an annual congress to share experiences among the professionals in the rehabilitation field and to promote continue professional development among the trained prosthetists and orthotists in order to improve quality of services to PWD. In addition to the above activities, KhAPO also takes that opportunity to raise some funds to support the social welfare such as donations for orphanage centers in the provinces that the congress were previously held. KhAPO is also working toward the membership of International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) which would link the Cambodian professionals to other associations in the world.

In closing, KhAPO appeals the contribution and intervention from interested agencies to work on disability preventions and rehabilitation of PWDs in Cambodia so that they can be fully integerated into their community and living as a normal life as a non-disabled person.

We wish to extend our gratitude to