Phnom Penh's component factory
31-12-1998 FilmRef. V-F-CR-F-00380
This informative film concentrates on a polypropylene component factory in Phnom Penh set up by the ICRC. It examines how the components are dispatched to the ICRC prosthetic workshop in Battambang, near the most heavily mined area of the country and to workshops run by other organisations involved in the physical rehabilitation of mine victims.
From its long experience in war-affected countries, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) knew that high-quality materials such as wood, leather or metal were expensive and often hard to obtain locally. In 1988 the ICRC decided to start manufacturing prostheses from polypropylene, a material which has many advantages; it is cheap, recyclable, easy to obtain and to store. The prostheses made from it are light but strong. The ICRC now uses polypropylene throughout the world.
