Empowering amputees with affordable and accessible prosthetics.
✍️ Alannah Walsh
Around 65 million people around the world live with lower-limb amputations. The vast majority—65%—reside in low- to middle-income countries, where access to prosthetics is limited by high costs and supply shortages.
And this isn’t a problem that’s going away. In fact, it’s accelerating. Experts estimate that the global demand for prosthetic care will double by 2050, driven by increasing rates of traumatic injuries (such as road accidents), diabetes, vascular diseases, and insufficient access to early medical treatment—especially in lower-income regions.
| “Experts estimate that the global demand for prosthetic care will double by 2050”
In many lower-income countries, locally made, high-quality prosthetics are almost non-existent. Hospitals are forced to import them, creating a costly and logistically slow system that leaves patients waiting for months—if not longer.
In conflict zones, the reality is even more severe. In Gaza, where constant bombardment has overwhelmed healthcare systems, emergency amputations are performed daily—and often without anaesthesia. In July 2024, Al Jazeera reported that children in Gaza now represent the largest group of paediatric amputees in recorded history. That horrifying reality highlights just how urgent the need is for accessible, quality prosthetic care.
Circleg, a Swiss startup, saw this gap and decided to do something about it.
What started as a university project among five students is now a full-fledged innovation hub. The founding team—a mix of industrial designers, mechanical engineers, and a finance expert—combined their skills to create a prosthetic leg that is affordable, customisable, and locally made using recycled plastic waste.
The result is the Circleg One: a modular prosthetic leg built for both above- and below-knee amputees. It’s made from lightweight, reinforced plastic, designed for comfort and durability, and manufactured with simple tools—making it easy to repair or replace parts locally.
Just as importantly, Circleg set up production in Kenya, drastically cutting down waiting times, reducing costs, and ensuring repairs and maintenance can happen close to where users live.
Their whole model is built on circular economy principles: parts are reused, repaired, or repurposed, keeping waste low and sustainability high.
Circleg’s approach is creating real, lasting change—not just for individuals, but for healthcare systems and the environment, too.
By enabling users to move freely again, the device supports not only physical recovery but also emotional resilience. Beyond the individual, Circleg is challenging societal perceptions of disability. Through campaigns like Bold Moves, which celebrates trailblazers breaking norms, and Express Your Beauty, which showcases self-expression through dance despite disability, they’re working to dismantle stigma and help amputees reclaim their narratives.
Their training programme equips prosthetics and orthotics (P&O) professionals with certification in Circleg technology, including advanced techniques such as ischial containment socket manufacturing, ensuring that local practitioners can deliver world-class care.
Circleg’s model is built on circularity—using recycled materials, local manufacturing, and a shortened supply chain to significantly reduce carbon footprint. Sustainability is embedded in every step, not treated as an afterthought or box-checking exercise.
| “Circleg’s model is built on circularity—using recycled materials, local manufacturing, and a shortened supply chain to significantly reduce carbon footprint”
Circleg is doing far more than providing prosthetics; it’s reshaping how we approach disability, innovation, and local empowerment. By tackling inaccessibility with a solution that is smart, sustainable, and rooted in community, Circleg proves that impactful healthcare doesn’t have to be imported—it can be built, maintained, and scaled where it’s needed most.
