USAID's War Victims' Fund.

Introduction USAID's (United States Agency for International Development) War Victims' Fund was established in 1989. Since that time AID has provided a modest amount of funds each year to respond to the needs of people injured by war and civil strife in developing countries around the world. Recently, this has amounted to approximately five million dollars per year. As the needs in any single country can far exceed the resources of the programme the Fund attempts to address the humanitarian needs of those injured, but also to complement and leverage other donor funding to establish sustainable systems which might be able to meet these needs on a long term basis. The programme has emphasised the importance of "unassisted mobility" and especially the provision of artificial limbs to civilian victims of civil strife, because amputations, especially of the lower limb, are one of the most common and critically disabling aspect of civil conflict in the developing world. In addition to prosthetic assistance, where feasible, a comprehensive programme of medical, surgical, orthotic, physical and vocational rehabilitation services is provided. For the purposes of funding "war victims" have been defined to take local circumstances into account. For example, children who contract paralytic polio as a result of interrupted immunisation programmes during periods of strife, are considered to be victims as much as those who step on land-mines, during or after the period of conflict. The scope of the programme has been focused on the direct and swift response