Nigeria is facing a growing rehabilitation challenge as thousands of amputees confront delays, repeated hospital journeys and mounting costs in the search for functional prosthetic care.

IfeanHealth puts the number of Nigerians living with amputations at about 2.6 million, with up to 200,000 new amputations occurring annually. Its new exclusive partnership with Portugal-based Amparo Technologies is now seeking to change the prosthetic-care experience through mobile and remouldable socket technology.

The initiative, backed by international training for Nigerian clinicians at IfeanHealth’s Lagos head office on Tuesday, is targeting a critical rehabilitation gap – shortening the journey from amputation to mobility. It will further equip local practitioners with skills to deliver faster, more adaptable prosthetic care.

The event’s defining moment was a live Majicast demonstration, hands-on training and practical engagement that brought international trainers and Nigerian clinicians together.

Mobile Technology To Bring Prosthetic Care Closer

Speaking first on the partnership, IfeanHealth Chief Executive Officer, Ejike Anih, said the portability of the Amparo technology could enable clinicians to provide the same fitting process across different locations without requiring the extensive fixed infrastructure associated with conventional prosthetic fabrication.

IfeanHealth currently operates in six (6) cities: Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Sokoto & Delta and plans to expand its services to other parts of Nigeria. Anih said the mobile nature of the technology could make it possible to replicate across their network of patient care facilities, thereby bringing prosthetic care closer to patients who would otherwise have to travel long distances.

Unlike conventional systems that require specialised equipment and established facilities, he said the Amparo process can be carried out with portable equipment, potentially allowing fittings to take place outside conventional clinic settings where appropriate.

That flexibility could become increasingly important as the number of Nigerians requiring prosthetic rehabilitation grows.

Loss Of A Limb Not The End

Anih also stressed that affordability and inclusion remain critical to expanding access to prosthetic care.

He said IfeanHealth supports people from lower-income backgrounds by helping them secure funding or assistance for prosthetic devices.

For children, he cited Stanbic IBTC’s Together4ALimb (T4AL) programme, , which he said has provided prosthetic limbs – through IfeanHealth – to 250 beneficiaries across Nigeria over the past 12 years.

He noted, however, that comparable structured support for adults remains limited.

For adults requiring assistance, IfeanHealth has sought support from individuals, religious leaders, community leaders and potential sponsors, while also negotiating discounts with partners and passing available reductions on to patients.

Anih said the organization recognizes that exchange-rate pressures remain outside its control but is seeking to reduce costs to patients wherever possible. He reminded Nigerians living with limb loss, “Losing a limb is not losing a life.”

According to him, amputees can walk, dance and return to their lives with appropriate support and rehabilitation.

Earlier Fitting Could Cut Rehabilitation Delays

One of the international trainers involved in the programme, Howard Russell, said the partnership is aimed at bringing “mobile, high quality, innovative prosthetics” to Nigeria and expanding access to prosthetic technology for people experiencing lower-limb loss.

According to Russell, conventional prosthetic processes can take weeks or even months before an initial socket is ready.

The Amparo approach, however, allows an initial socket to be fitted much earlier because it can subsequently be remoulded as the residual limb changes shape.

He said the ability to provide an early prosthesis, accompanied by appropriate rehabilitation and coaching, could help new amputees regain mobility sooner and support their physical and psychological recovery.

The significance is particularly important for people who may otherwise remain without a functional prosthesis while waiting for their residual limb to stabilise before conventional fitting.

Under the Amparo process, the socket can be adjusted as the limb changes, rather than requiring the entire process to begin again.

For an amputee confronting the sudden loss of mobility, that difference can translate into fewer delays between losing a limb and beginning the journey back to independent movement.

Same-Day Adjustment

Another international trainer, Vanessa Carvalho, said the technology is designed to place the patient directly at the centre of the fitting process.

She explained that conventional procedures can involve four to seven visits and significant clinical work, while the Amparo process can produce a socket in less than two hours, with the patient actively involved in determining the fit.

The approach allows clinicians to make adjustments during the same session instead of sending patients home and requiring them to return repeatedly for modifications.

Carvalho said this could be particularly significant for patients who live far from rehabilitation centres and face transportation difficulties, repeated expenses and the physical burden of travelling after an amputation.

The objective, she stressed, is to provide faster and more efficient care while improving comfort and mobility and helping patients return to their daily activities.

Diabetes And Limb-Loss Burden

The challenge is also tied to the wider burden of diabetes and its complications.

Anih said most of IfeanHealth’s patients with limb loss have undergone amputation as a consequence of diabetes-related complications, with many being elderly patients.

The reported scale of the problem places greater pressure on a rehabilitation system that must not only provide prosthetic devices but also deliver continuing clinical support, rehabilitation and follow-up care.

For patients, access to a prosthesis is not simply about replacing a missing limb. It can determine how quickly they regain independence, return to work or family responsibilities and reconnect with ordinary daily life.

From Price To Lifetime Value

Affordability remains a major concern. Because the Amparo socket can be reheated, remoulded and modified as the patient’s residual limb changes, patients may not need to immediately purchase an entirely new socket each time an adjustment becomes necessary.

The potential savings, therefore, extend beyond the price of the device to transportation, repeated appointments, clinical time, infrastructure and future modifications.

Training Nigerian Clinicians For Local Capacity

Lawrence Katden, Head of Prosthetics and Orthotics at IfeanHealth explained that the training represents not merely the introduction of a new technology but an effort to transfer skills and modern clinical practice to Nigerian practitioners.

Under the conventional process, a faulty or poorly fitting socket may require the patient to return another day and the clinician to restart significant portions of the work.

With the Amparo approach, Katden said, adjustments can be made progressively, potentially reducing wasted time, resources and repeated visits for both patients and clinicians.

Dauda Mohammed, Head of Physiotherapy at IfeanHealth, described the international training as an important component of professional development and local capacity building.

He said bringing Amparo trainers from Portugal to Nigeria gives Nigerian clinicians exposure to modern prosthetic socket techniques while strengthening their ability to provide more efficient services locally.

For clinicians, he said, the technology elevates the clinical care provided at IfeanHealth to the most modern global standards.

A New Test For Nigeria’s Rehabilitation System

The IfeanHealth-Amparo collaboration comes at a time when Nigeria’s rehabilitation needs demand not only more devices but also faster access, skilled personnel, decentralised services and sustainable financing.

The international training provides an opportunity to test whether modern prosthetic technology can be integrated into routine Nigerian care without leaving affordability and accessibility behind.

Its promise rests on several interconnected gains: earlier fitting, faster modification, mobile service delivery, local clinical training and potentially lower long-term costs.

For the amputee, however, the measure of success will ultimately be more personal — how quickly the technology can help transform the experience of limb loss from prolonged dependence to renewed mobility.

As IfeanHealth seeks to expand beyond its existing six locations, the partnership with Amparo Technologies is placing a new proposition before Nigeria’s rehabilitation sector: that prosthetic care can become faster, more adaptable and closer to the patient, while local clinicians acquire the skills needed to sustain that progress.

For millions of Nigerians living with limb loss or facing amputation, the significance goes beyond a new prosthetic socket. It lies in how quickly it can help turn prolonged dependence into mobility, independence and a return to everyday life.