Prosthetics
Prosthetics and LMICs
ICChange has a long history of advancing trauma care systems and strengthening rehabilitation capacity in LMICs (Low-Middle Income Countries). This work has highlighted a critical and growing challenge: the global burden of limb loss and the limited availability of prosthetics services in LMICs.
We frame the issue through epidemiological drivers, service capacity, systemic barriers, and downstream impacts, to clarify what matters for individuals, communities, policy makers and global health stakeholders.
Important statistics
-
More than 2.5 billion people globally need one or more assistive product, and the demand in LMICs is being met as low as 3%.
-
Of the ~1.2M road trauma deaths globally (2021), risk of death is 3X higher in LMICs.
-
In 2023, there were more than 5,700 civilian casualties recorded due to land minds, and 37% of those casualties were children.
-
~589 million adults live with diabetes (2024) with 80% of those in LMICs - a major contributor to lower-limb amputation
-
Only 15% of countries show formal regulation of their prosthetist workforce, and in LMICs, there are commonly fewer than 1 professional per 100,000.
The ICChange Approach
ICChange has spent years building trauma systems and rehabilitation pathways in underserved regions. This work revealed a glaring reality: prosthetics access is one of the least measured and least funded gaps in global health.
We're taking the first step — shining a light on this issue. We are mapping the scale, barriers, and human cost of prosthetics inequity so that sustainable solutions can follow.
Through our work on advanced and just in time manufacturing, and our ongoing commitment to empowering LMICs to build the capacity to deliver their own solutions, we've developed new 3D and rapid manufacturing techniques that can shrink the cycle time for assessing, fitting, and manufacturing prosthetics from months and years down to days and weeks.
By getting our patients back on their feet, quite literally, we can help improve the reality for the millions of individuals in LMICs suffering from road trauma, the impacts of war and land mines, diabetes, and more.
