Beneficiaries & Distribution
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 650 million individuals worldwide suffer from a disability. Untapped land mines, war, and diseases such as diabetes and polio have left many with amputated limbs. Of the disabled population, 80% reside in resource-constrained countries. More specifically, 2.4 million of the 3 million upper-limb amputees worldwide live in developing countries. According to WHO, less than 5% of the population in the developing world has access to rehabilitation services.
The WHO has developed a set of criteria known as ASSURED: Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid and robust, Equipment-free, and Deliverable to end-users to ensure that biomedical devices are applicable to developing countries.*
Our solutions fit this ASSURED criteria.
Our upper limbs and hands reach beneficiaries in two ways;
– First and foremost though organised Fitting Camps. These are organised by local NGOs and / or charities who mobilise beneficiaries to a central location where our team does the fitting as well as training local orthopaedic technicians.
– Secondly, we also have a few small centres in some countries which can take walk-ins.
Below are the countries we where we are currently active. Please use the Contact Form to ask us about Fitting Camps in these countries or to inquire about bringing The Hand Project to your country.
Ghana
Tanzania
Uganda
Liberia
Nepal
India
Burundi
(*Source: A Review of Current Upper-Limb Prostheses for Resource Constrained Settings – Brienna Phillips, Gabrielle Zingalis, Sarah Ritter, and Khanjan Mehta, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) Program School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs College of Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University University Park, USA)