Some 600 million people around the world live with a disability – 70 percent of these people are in developing countries. Hardly any region can guarantee the appropriate care with preventive, curative and rehabilitative health care services, as there's a lack of experts, orthopedic materials and centers. The consequences for disabled people are severe. Often, they're socially isolated and unable to find work. For this reason, many live in poverty and are therefore not in a position to feed their families.

The situation for people with disabilities is especially precarious during a humanitarian emergency. In crisis situations, the disabled have a much harder time than able-bodied people meeting basic needs such as food, water, shelter and health care. As their mobility is often severely impaired, they're frequently forgotten by emergency relief and evacuation programs.

With the December 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the international community pledged to actively consider the concerns of disabled people in both international development cooperations (Article 32) and humanitarian emergencies (Article 11).

Emphasis on orthopedic technology

Since 1992, Johanniter International Assistance has supported more than 36 projects in 18 countries, in order to permanently improve orthopedic care – and thereby quality of life – for physically disabled people. In doing so, the focus has been on developing high quality orthopedic techniques, in other words, adjusting, supporting and correcting defective positions or damage to postural and mobility apparatuses in line with international standards. The Johanniter build and renovate orthopedics centers, and equip them with machines, supplies and fit components. Additionally, training in treatment and production techniques is offered to orthopedic technicians, physiotherapists and surgeons.

Orthopedics projects worldwide

The Johanniter are currently managing orthopedics projects in Haiti Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, Georgia and Romania. Further information about the individual projects can be found on the country pages.

Support us

Millions of physically disabled people worldwide are in need of orthopedic walking supports or prosthetics. To be able to give them back a bit of mobility, we depend on donations.