Tanzania Prosthetics Training

During September, Jon Batzdorff, CPO provided training in Ischial Containment Prosthetic Socket Technology in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This technology is widely used in the US but rarely used in developing countries.  The purpose of the workshop was to help provide more comfortable and functional prosthetic devices in developing countries and to provide these prostheses to a group of amputees in Tanzania. The twelve trainees worked in groups of two and following the step by step instructions to make prostheses for the amputees.

The training was hosted by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the attendees were made up of prosthetists who work in various ICRC prosthetics facilities throughout the world.  The class participants came from Yemen, Rwanda, Myanmar, Somaliland, India, Pakistan, Colombia, and Tanzania. Amputees from the Dar es Salaam area served as models for students to practice the new techniques on and, in return, each amputee received a free prosthesis.