Why Prosthesis?

There are 2 million amputees in the United States.  54% of these two million owe their missing limbs to cardiovascular disease. 45% have an amputated limb due to trauma. There are ten million amputees in the world with a majority of them residing in developing countries, making them the target population.  For example, in India alone, there reside about one to two million people with amputated limbs, most of who cannot get medical attention that they need, carrying on difficult chores that need two hands with only one.  

The majority of amputees however, reside in Africa, where numerous civil wars involving child soldiers take place, where there are many people who have had their arms amputated due to infection born from an unsanitary life style. Most of these people cannot afford prosthetics, even a body powered one though they are much cheaper than the electrical ones.  By making the body powered prosthetic more affordable, even in developing countries, ease the assembly, and make it more efficient, we as a team plan to make upper limb prosthetics more widely available for those who need it.