The facility will be officially inaugurated on 5 January in the presence of representatives of the Government of Southern Sudan.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) built and equipped a complete new centre with total roofed area of 1200 m2 at a cost of 1.8 million US dollars. The construction, which lasted over two years involving complex contract management, is the result of constructive collaboration between the ICRC and the local authorities. The facility will be able to treat and accommodate with all necessary facilities 60 inpatients at any given time and will serve up to 100 patients per month when fully operational.

"Many people in Southern Sudan are physically disabled because of gunshot wounds or other injuries sustained during the decades of war that devastated the region," explained Patrick Vial, head of the ICRC Sudan delegation. "The centre will improve their access to good-quality prostheses, orthoses, crutches and physiotherapy, which they need to live with dignity."

Supporting relatives with physical disabilities is a long and costly process, especially for families that are struggling to make ends meet in post-conflict Southern Sudan. The ICRC's physical rehabilitation programmes aim to enable the disabled to regain mobility, thereby helping them to become economically independent and to be fully integrated into society.

"Even though it's not a real leg, I am happy and I thank God that I can walk and do a lot of things for myself," said Mary Angau who lost her leg because of gunshot wounds 14 years ago. "My old prosthesis broke and had to be replaced. That's why I came to the centre in Juba."

To maintain the quality and sustainability of the services offered, the ICRC sponsored the enrolment of 26 Southern Sudanese from the Ministry of Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs in various training courses in Rwanda and Tanzania, and within Sudan. They will work at the centre in Juba once they complete their internationally recognized training.

The ICRC has been caring for the war-wounded in Southern Sudan since 1984, mainly out of the hospital it managed in Lokichokio, in neighbouring Kenya until 2006.

Elsewhere in Sudan, the ICRC is also providing physical rehabilitation services in Khartoum, Nyala, Kadugli, Kasala and Damazin. As a recognized authority on the recovery of victims of war-related injuries, it has been assisting over 85 physical rehabilitation centres worldwide for almost three decades.