Thousands of children across the globe struggle with decreased physical functionalities and social acceptance as a result of amputations. Estimates range from 0.19 – 4.7 per 1000 children1,2, with too few health care workers to care for them all. The underlying cause for the lower education of local prosthetists and quality of prostheses was found to be the lack of communication within the field of prosthetics.
There is not only a lack of communication between engineers and local prosthetists, but also amongst engineers themselves.4 This lack of communication can be split into two parts; too little spreading and sharing of information, and too little developmental collaboration. In short, these deficits have led to a lot of engineers “re-inventing the wheel” and too little consent.
To solve these problems the Patch Project focuses on creating a free and open-source collaborative space where prosthetic designers and users can communicate and share their ideas and expertise.
Goal:
Spreading and developing free open-source construction manuals of prosthetics for children in developing countries.