A young man in Kano who lost a leg to a landmine has taken his first steps again on a prosthesis scanned, designed and printed in Nigeria, by Nigerians. He is one of 30 amputees who have already received a 3D-printed prosthesis under United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Project 240280, a technology transfer initiative funded by the Government of Japan. Two hundred amputees have been selected to receive devices, with 170 currently in the fitting and production process.

The milestone was marked on 8 October 2026 at a 3D-Printed Prosthetics Technology Showcase, hosted by UNIDO and the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board of Nigeria (MRTB) at the Board’s National Secretariat in Abuja. The event was opened by the Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, in the presence of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and brought together more than 120 participants from government, the rehabilitation sector, academia, training institutions, organizations of persons with disabilities, the private sector and the media.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN ACTION

UNIDO’s Project 240280, entitled “Transferring Japanese 3D-Printed Prosthetics Technology to Support Landmine Victims in Africa”, was introduced in 2024 with a total budget of USD 2 million. It transfers an Instalimb Japan technology – a digital workflow combining 3D scanning, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and 3D printing – to Nigerian health and training institutions. The digital approach cuts prosthetics production time by a factor of five, reduces per-unit costs and enables decentralized manufacturing at hospital level.

Twenty Nigerian prosthetists and orthotists (P&Os) were selected for an intensive Training of Trainers (ToT) programme, delivered by Japanese experts from Instalimb together with the Nigerian Government through MRTB. Ten trainers have been formally certified in Batch 1. Each certified trainer will now help build the next generation of Nigeria’s rehabilitation workforce.

Two hospitals have been fully equipped: the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) in Borno State and the National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH) in Kano. The Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) will train 500 prosthetists and orthotists per year using digital equipment. The MRTB National Secretariat in Abuja serves as the national hub for continuing professional development, regulation and standards, with over 1,000 Nigerian rehabilitation professionals awaiting training.

HUMANITARIAN SCALE AND UNMET NEED

Nigeria carries one of the highest amputee burdens in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kano State alone is estimated to have up to 700,000 amputees. The north-east region – particularly Borno State and Maiduguri – bears the accumulated cost of over a decade of armed conflict, with thousands of landmine and IED survivors in urgent need of rehabilitation. Structural barriers – high device costs, distance to treatment centres, production delays and a shortage of qualified professionals – have historically prevented the majority from accessing care.

The project’s seven-partner delivery network spans both the north and the south of Nigeria, combining service delivery at clinical sites with a national training infrastructure designed to scale the model sustainably.

NATIONAL OWNERSHIP AND SUSTAINABILITY

The Federal Government’s commitment of budgetary resources to a permanent 3D prosthetics training centre at MRTB marks a decisive shift from project-funded support to national ownership. The upcoming Nigerian national health insurance scheme – which will cover prostheses and assistive devices – will provide a sustainable financing mechanism for ongoing service delivery.

UNIDO called on private sector actors and investors to participate in building the local supply chain– materials, components and services – that will allow the model to grow to national scale and, in time, be replicated across other African countries.

The project “Transferring Japanese 3D-Printed Prosthetics Technology to Support Landmine Victims in Africa” is implemented by UNIDO in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, MRTB and national partner institutions, with financial support from the Government of Japan.