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We've designed a health system strengthening model to support and expand the prosthetic and orthotic sector that cares for people with disabilities.
The MIT Program to Strengthen Orthotics & Prosthetics Care in Sierra Leone is a multi-phase effort to establish, expand and sustain O&P medical service delivery in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The Program seeks to execute on a comprehensive strategy to transform care for persons with disabilities across the nation of Sierra Leone, whilst empowering members of this same community to become critically-needed clinicians and leaders.
Partnering with the Ministry of Health, local clinics and disabled communities, our goal is to improve capacity, multiply production of prosthetic and orthotic devices, and deliver care to patients in hard to reach areas across the Republic of Sierra Leone.
Our Story
Due to a civil war ending in the early 2000s, 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 service capabilities grew.
In the present day, the orthotic and prosthetic sector in Sierra Leone is equipped with just one fully-trained clinician, an unpredictable flow of supplies, and with clinics lacking adequate power and tools. Sierra Leone is home to over fifty-thousand persons with disabilities who need medical orthotic braces and prosthetic limbs, but care is severely limited.
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 catalyze change in the prosthetic and orthotic sector to permanently improve prosthetic and orthotic care for persons with disabilities across Sierra Leone.
Our Methods
We accomplish this by using an innovative approach called the SITE model, which establishes the foundation for a strong O&P sector:
Supply Chain
Development of a supply chain that enables clinics in Sierra Leone to procure commercially-available, low-cost components for the fabrication of high-quality O&P medical devices.
Infrastructure
Renovations to two clinics (National Rehabilitation Center in Freetown and Bo clinic in Bo) to permit full functionality from patient treatment and rehabilitation to custom medical device fabrication.
Technology
Prescription of safe, low-cost, culturally-appropriate and efficacious O&P components and materials that enable patients in Sierra Leone to be protected from unsafe medical devices.
Education
Educating eleven new O&P clinicians between the Freetown and Bo clinics using our first in-country specialized and inclusive clinical education program, increasing the national clinical workforce 5-fold.
MIT Team
- Dr. Hugh Herr, Principal Investigator of the Biomechatronics Group
- Francesca Riccio-Ackerman, Graduate Student Lead, Researcher at the Biomechatronics Group, Global Health Systems Designer
- Dara Dotz, Consultant Humanitarian Designer and Low-Resource Fabrication Expert
- Lindsey Charles, Biomechatronics Project Administrator
- Claudine Humure, MS, PO, Senior Program and Development Prosthetist-Orthotist
- Leila Abdelrahman; Consultant Software Developer
- Adikalie Kamara, Researcher and Community Liaison
Ministry of Health and Government Collaborators
- Dr. David Sengeh, Chief Minister of Sierra Leone (Biomechatronics and MIT Graduate)
- Dr. Austin Demby, Minister of Health and Sanitation
- Dr. Santigie Sesay, Director of Non-Communicable Diseases
- Dr. Ismaila Kebbie, Director of Rehabilitation & Physiotherapy
- Abdulrahman Dumbaya, Head Prosthetist at the National Rehabilitation Center
Collaborating Organizations
- The Human Study School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Internationally Certified Education Non-Profit Organization to educate prosthetist-orthotist clinicians
New collaboration aims to strengthen orthotic and prosthetic care in Sierra Leone
MIT’s K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics and Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation aim to develop an integrative approach to strengthening and expanding the orthotic and prosthetic sector within the African nation.
In January 2023, the MIT Team signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health, which initiated and officially communicated a nation-wide effort to improve care for people with disabilities, for patients from all regions with changes designed to last for generations.
MIT’s K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics has entered into a collaboration with the government of Sierra Leone to strengthen the capabilities and services of that country’s orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) sector. Tens of thousands of people in Sierra Leone need orthotic braces and artificial limbs, but access to such specialized medical care in this African nation is limited.
The agreement between MIT, the Center for Bionics, and Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) provides a detailed memorandum of understanding (MOU) and intentions that will begin as a four-year program.
“[This collaboration fosters] access, innovation, and capacity-building in the Orthotic and Prosthetic division…building resilient health systems, especially for vulnerable groups.” ⏤ Dr. Austin Demby, Minister of Health of Sierra Leone
