Ha Noi 7 January 2020 – As of September 2019, nearly 75,000 registrations of persons with disabilities (PWDs) were recorded in Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces, among them more than 12 percent are unexploded ordnance (UXO) survivors.

These figures are from an official databased on PWDs and UXO survivors in the two provinces, which was launched for the first time by the Department of Social Protection – Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) at a workshop in Ha Noi today. This is part of the victim assistance component of the Korea-Viet Nam Mine Action project, which is funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and implemented by the Viet Nam National Mine Action Center (VNMAC) and UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Among the registrations of PWDs, 46 percent are women. About 7 percent are children under 15 years old and 40 percent are people from 15-59 and another 40 percent are from 60-79. Eight out of the 10 registered people are with profound and severe disabilities. Most of the 9,100 UXO survivors are victims of wars, with the majority of them aging between 60-79. The number of male UXO survivors doubled the number of the female.

According to the data report, the UXO survivors need basic services to have better social and economic life. These services include surgery, rehabilitation, psychological counseling, physical therapy, employment creation, vocation training and entitlement to government social welfare policies.

UXO victims from Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces attended the workshop and shared their personal experiences from having survived accidents caused by UXO and their needs and expectations for support.

Addressing the workshop, acting UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Sitara Syed highlighted the importance of official data of PwDs and UXO survivors in designing and developing appropriate assistances in response to their needs.

“Development and implementation of evidence-based interventions to assist PwDs, UXO survivors and other vulnerable groups are aimed at ensuring that No One is Left Behind,” Ms Syed noted. “We really trust that the tool of registry, information management and case management of PwDs and UXO survivors will be used widely in other provinces throughout the country; data of PwDs and UXO survivors will be updated by a reasonable frequency; and the data will be available for and accessible by NGOs, policy makers, legislators for evidence-based laws, policies and plans making to meaningfully support PwDs and UXO survivors”.

With the technical support of the International Center, Tri Nam Software company and Department of Social Protection, a software for registry and information management for PwDs and UXO survivors has been used to conduct an assessment in all the 318 communes of Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces from May to September 2019.

A new function on case management was also upgraded in the software, which allows the users – communal social workers and collaborators - to manage need assessment of UXO survivors and PwDs more efficiently. This makes it easier to develop assistance plans and eases the reporting from the local to national level within MOLISA. Officials at district and provincial levels can approve victim assistance plans using this software, and it allows relevant partners to review and track the level of assistance provided to individuals and for which duration.

This software has helped simplify and thereby has the potential for making the victim support more efficient. As part of the collaboration between MOLISA, VNMAC, KOICA and UNDP, the database will be used in the ongoing project to provide relevant and targeted services to those in need. It is therefore also expected that the use of the software will be replicated in other provinces of Viet Nam to improve the quality of life of UXO survivors, as well as other persons with disabilities, throughout Viet Nam.

“The database is very important as it helps management agencies research on people with disabilities and UXO survivors regarding their status, level of disabilities and causes of disabilities," said Mr Nguyen Van Hoi, General Director of MOLISA's Social Protection Department. ”Secondly, it helps local ministries and agencies continue to carry out policies to support these people in the near future".

"I understant the comments that were provided by the representative of Quang Binh's DOLISA that number doesn't say it all and we need to pay attention to not only the figure but also the voices from the communities and the provinces," Ms. Jung-Myung Cho, Deputy Country Director of KOICA, concluded. "We are committed to further development of the second phase of the project that we are only halfway done. We are thankful for all the comments that you have made and we will try to integrate all the good comments that we have received to our second phase of the project".

For more details, please contact: Ms. Nguyen Thanh Van –Risk Education & Victim Assistance Component Manager (nguyen.thanh.van.vn@undp.org | 0913053605 and/or Ms. Nông Diệu Linh – Communications Officer (nong.dieu.linh@undp.org | 0973338066)