During the Indo-China war period (1964-73) more than 2 million tonnes of ordinance was dropped on Laos, giving Laos the sad distinction of being the most heavily bombed nation in the world. Up to 30% of this ordinance did not explode at the time and is still lethal in 10 out of 18 provinces. Many accidents occur during routine daily activities, in rice-fields, villages and forests. Accidents involving children have increased substantially in recent years. Sometimes accidents occur in village centres. These are likely to claim multiple victims, due to the scattering of fragmentation by exploding ordinance and the proximity of family members or bystanders. Of the victims, roughly 40% are killed and the average age of victims is 26, meaning that accidents kill or disable people who are in their most productive years.

There are 4 components to UXO's program: community awareness, training, survey and clearance. Community awareness teams visit villages disseminating safety messages using multi-media techniques. They also distribute T-shirts, bags, children's school notebooks, cartoon books and posters all carrying UXO safety messages. The Intrepid Foundation's support goes a long way with just 20 cents funding a child's school notebook and $2 funding a T-shirt illustrated with safety messages and mine identification information.