IMPROVING ACCESS TO RECYCLED PROSTHETIC LEGS
We improve access to recycled prosthetic legs because everyone should have the opportunity to walk, work and dance again, at an affordable price.
We focus on:
Collecting
Dismantling
Shipping
Across most of the world, prosthetic legs cannot be reused, so they end up in landfills along with our avocado stones and crunched up beer cans.
"Imagine that, a prosthetic leg languishing among rubbish. What a sad end for an incredible piece of technology" - Ambassador Alex Brooker, as part of our BBC Radio 4 Appeal in 2020
Meanwhile, in sub-Saharan Africa 1.7 million people are in need of a limb to help them live independent lives. Legs4Africa is the charity aiming to change this imbalance.
Since 2014, we have collected over 12,000 legs from mobility centres, funeral directors and individuals across Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA.
The Leicester Specialist Mobility Centre are proud to support Legs4Africa. Our patients and their families take great comfort knowing that their unwanted limbs and components are making a real difference to individuals, where the ability to be able to walk again means so much more than simply regaining mobility.
— Helen Naylor
Lead Prosthetist
Leicester Specialist Mobility Centre, UK
Dismantling Legs
Many of the prosthetic legs we receive from mobility centres have already been dismantled by staff members. But the legs that haven’t yet been broken down into parts are sent to volunteer teams made up of groups of retired gentlemen, thanks to our partnership with Men’s Shed – an international charity that builds community spaces for men to connect, converse, and create. Encouraging retired gentlemen to take part in practical activities together helps to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
In the first 6 months of working together we have dismantled about 300 legs – we think Legs4Africa is having a job to keep up with us!
— Mervyn Bishop
Men’s Shed, Warmley, UK
Shipping Legs
Once the parts are serviced and ready for delivery we box them up and send them out to their forever homes across sub-Saharan Africa.
We are currently partnered with 10 mobility centres across 7 countries.
We ensure each centre has the expertise and the resources needed to utilise the parts we send. Boxes of prosthetic leg parts and other materials like stump socks are then delivered by door-to-door courier services. This allows us to get legs out to even the most remote areas and the most marginalised communities.
Once the parts have arrived, prosthetists at the centres use them to build or repair prosthetic limbs for people who otherwise may never walk again.
hover map to see where who we're working with
If there are 100 amputees in The Gambia, Legs4Africa has contributed to the lives of 99 of them. It’s very heartening to know that you can do it for children and they can play football, they can run, they can even ride their bicycles to school. For me that’s joy
— Gabriel Jarjue
Lead Prosthetist
Banjul Mobility Centre, The Gambia
