We are designing and implementing a health system strengthening model  to support and expand the prosthetic and orthotic sector of Sierra Leone. Partnering with the Ministry of Health, local clinics and disabled communities, our goal is to create a sustainable system to double production of prosthetic and orthotic devices, and deliver them to patients in hard to reach areas in the first four years.

An estimated 26,000 amputees and an even larger number of people with physical disabilities due to poliomyelitis live in Sierra Leone, West Africa with severely limited options to receive prosthetic and orthotic healthcare.

Due to a civil war ending in 2001, many Sierra Leoneans were injured or became disabled from violence, displacement and inability to access safe and healthy living environments. Immediately after the conflict, Sierra Leone received an influx of international support to rehabilitate and care for people needing prosthetic and orthotic devices. However, as time progressed, many short-term aid and relief efforts shifted their focus to emergencies elsewhere, and the dearth of orthotic and prosthetic care capabilities grew.

Today, the orthotic and prosthetic sector in Sierra Leone is equipped with just one fully-trained clinician, an unpredictable flow of supplies donated by international groups,  and with clinics lacking adequate power and tools. Communities of disabled people live together in Camps across Sierra Leone, unable to reach clinics and access much-needed life sustaining and enhancing prosthetic and orthotic care. As a result, disabled patients across the country struggle to obtain mobility aids and often hold together assistive devices like prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, and crutches well beyond safe and comfortable usage.

Our Goal

Enabled by the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, our team  has taken on the challenge of using problem-solving, design thinking, global health knowledge and engineering to work together with partners from the Ministry of Health and from communities of disabled Sierra Leoneans to strengthen this sector. Our goal is to act as a catalyst for sustainable change that will benefit this sector of Sierra Leone forever, not just for a few months.

Our efforts span six major categories: data collection and quality improvement, inclusive education and training, supply chain and logistics, investment in infrastructure, translation of new technologies, and mobile delivery of services.

Collaborators and Advisors

At MIT and Harvard

Team | Francesca Riccio-Ackerman, Team Lead, Researcher at Biomechatronics Group and Global Health System Designer; Dara Dotz, Award-Winning Humanitarian Designer and Low-Resource Fabrication Expert; Christina Meyer, Researcher at Biomechatronics Group and Designer of Assistive Technologies; Urvaksh Danesh Irani, Researcher at MIT GEAR Lab and Low-Cost Prosthesis Designer; Ellen Clarrissimeaux, Biomechatronics Group Engineer and Project Manager; Kaili Glasser, Biomechatronics Group Undergraduate Engineering Researcher

Advisors | Dr. Hugh Herr, Principal Investigator of the Biomechatronics Group; Dr. Amos Winter, Principal Investigator of the MIT GEAR Lab, and Low-Cost Prosthetic Design Expert; Dr. Nancy Oriol, Associate Dean of Harvard Medical School and Advisor on Mobile Health Delivery;  Dr. John Oschendorf, Director of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design and Dr. Leslie Norford, Associate Head of MIT Department of Architecture; Barry Hand, O&P Digital Fabrication  Expert

In Sierra Leone

Dr. Austin Demby, Minister of Health and Sanitation; Dr. David Sengeh, Chief Innovation Officer and Minister of Primary Education (Biomechatronics and MIT Graduate); Dr. Santigie Sesay, Director of Non-Communicable Diseases; Dr. Ismaila Kebbie, Director of Rehabilitation & Physiotherapy;  Abdulrahman Dumbaya, Head Prosthetist at the National Rehabilitation Center; Adikalie Kamara, Researcher and Community Liason.