Prosthetics project Burundi

In Burundi there is a large number of people with limb amputation, especially the lower ones. Many of these disabilities have been the result of wears (the civil war ended in 2004), some are due to traumas from car or work accidents, other are the result of disabling and destructive diseases (mainly osteomyelitis and sickle cell anemia). Since 2010 we have treated 54 people with leg and thigh amputation, both for revision of stumps and for primary amputation. Thirteen patients had severe osteomyelitis and five had torpid ulcers, which could no longer be treated conservatively. The average age of patients is 32, including a 10-year-old one. For these reasons we have decided to equip the Hospital of  Bubanza with a center for the production of prostheses and orthoses.The project provides funding for the production and and donation of prostheses and orthoses to the needy through the following steps:

• Training of local staff

• Recruitment of persons in need of prostheses and orthoses

• Registration in the prostheses register

• Sending to the prosthetic centre of Bubanza hospital, where is built, tested and possibly modified to make it suitable for the function

• Delivery of the product to the consignee

• Our commitment to replace the prosthesis in the event of wear or theft, and, in the case of children, to replace it periodically according to their growth, in order to ensure them maximum autonomy and the possibility of integration in the social and working environment. The cost of each leg prosthesis for under-knee amputation with articulated foot is around 400 Euros.

  Published on October 10, 2019

  Piero Petricca