500 miles

500 miles

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500 miles helps people in Malawi who have impaired mobility or restricted body function as a result of amputation, congenital deformity, illness or accident by supplying and subsidising the supply of prostheses (artificial limbs) and orthoses (braces) for all-comers, but especially the poor.

The main focus of 500 miles' work is supporting the development and delivery of sustainable prosthetic and orthotic services in Malawi and Zambia so that these services will last to assist future generations, as well as the people we help today.

We establish and support the centres which manufacture, prescribe and fit prosthetic and orthotic devices and, critically, sponsor the training of local people to international standards to work in them.

500 miles has created a prosthetic and orthotic service for central and northern regions and trained a Malawian workforce to international standards to work in it. The service has a register of over 8,500 patients and we have dispensed over 14,500 devices. We have incubated the service as part of the Malawian national health service, all with a view to gradually transferring administrative and fiscal responsibility as and when it can self-sustain, albeit with ongoing support.

Partner organisation in Malawi

Ministry of Health

Number of people involved in our partnership

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