What happens when a breadwinner loses a limb?

What happens when a breadwinner loses a limb?

An amputation does not just take a limb. For many people, it takes their income. A boda rider can no longer ride. A farmer can no longer work the land. A market trader can no longer stand for hours. The injury happened once, but the economic loss continues every single day after, often for the rest of their life.

This is where a prosthetic device changes the equation. A well fitted prosthesis is not a medical accessory. It is a tool that returns a person to the workforce. It puts a rider back on his boda. It lets a farmer walk their land again. It allows a trader to stand at their stall. When that happens, the person stops being dependent and starts contributing again. To their household.To the economy.

This is why I think about prosthetic and orthotic care as economic empowerment, not just clinical rehabilitation. The outcome we are aiming for is not simply 'the wound has healed lets fit the device.' It is ‘this person can work again.’

Yet access remains the bottleneck. Devices are expensive. Services are concentrated in a few urban centers. Many people who could return to full productive life simply do not get the chance to.

If we want fewer Kenyans falling into poverty after an injury, prosthetic and orthotic access has to be part of that conversation. Not as charity. As an investment that pays for itself when a person returns to work and starts earning again. That is the case for rehabilitation. Not because it is kind. Because it works.