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About ICRC Prothetics Centre
After nearly four decades of continuous war, Afghanistan has a large population who have paid a steep price for this unrest. Most victims are not wounded in combat — they are sheepherders, farmers, and children who have had the misfortune of finding landmines or unexploded ordnance (UXO). Large swathes of the countryside are unsafe because of the countless landmines laid by various warring fractions and armies. No one knows exactly where they've been put. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been active in Afghanistan since 1987. There are multiple centres who specifically deal with amputees and their needs. In Kabul, amputees work to make prothesis and orthesis for fellow victims.
Three decades of continuous use of landmines have contaminated the Afghan countryside.
About the groundwork project
Groundwork is a photographic project that focuses on those who do fieldwork for aid organizations. The idea is to balance the images usually seen of NGO’s, which typically revolve around those who receive the aid. Our aim is to humanize these organisations and the work they do. We want to show the hard work these men and women do, with great courage in often dire circumstances. And we hope to lessen the scepticism and preconceptions concerning aid operations.
Stats
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40.000 amputees in Afghanistan
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50+ types of landmine in Afghanistan
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1.800 protheses produced/year
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7.200 wheelchairs & crutches produced/year