Category Disability

Sustained care critical for Gaza’s child amputees

0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science
Mohammed Akram Abu Aker longs for a functional prosthesis that will allow him to run and play football without crutches. Photo Credit: ©Courtesy of Mohammed’s parents.

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 10.06.2026 (SciDev.Net): Thousands of children in Gaza, who have undergone amputations during the war, need their prostheses modified, repaired or replaced every six to 12 months or sooner, as they grow. But with healthcare services severely strained and rehabilitation resources scarce to non-existent, specialists and aid organisations warn that young amputees face an uncertain future without sustained access to the care they need.

Eight-year-old Mohammed Akram Abu Aker’s right leg was severed in June 2025 by shrapnel from an artillery shell, just as he and his family were attempting to flee following an Israeli airstrike on a neighbour’s house in Gaza. The shrapnel penetrated multiple parts of his body, causing extensive wounds.

About 10,000 children have sustained life-changing injuries in Gaza since October 2023, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). One in five out of more than 5,000, who have undergone limb amputations, is a child.

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Open-source exoskeleton aims to close disability divide

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Photo Credit: ©Courtesy of Northern Arizona University

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 03.07.2025 (SciDev.Net): Mechanical engineers in the US have decided to make their design open source, ensuring the assistive technology for people with severe physical disabilities is free to access across the globe.

The Northern Arizona University researchers say OpenExo could help people in resource-limited countries create their own wearable robotic devices and foster innovation in this field. The modular robotic device with multiple configurations can assist in the rehabilitation and improved mobility of people with physical disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries, stroke-related impairments and cerebral palsy.

Globally, over 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products. According to The WHO and UNICEF Global report on assistive technology (2022), only three per cent of people in some low-income countries have access to the assistive products they need, in comparison to 90 per cent in some high-income countries.

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Why polio survivors may benefit from a lung function test

0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 14.03.2023 (Allergy and Respiratory Republic): Basic lung function tests could go a long way in preventing complications in polio survivors as they age. These patients often require specific respiratory assessment and recommendations for physiotherapy, orthotics and assistive technology to manage their condition, experts say.

“It is only in the last 20 to 30 years that there has been a better recognition of respiratory compromise in polio survivors,” Dr Stephen de Graaff, director of Pain Services and senior rehabilitation physician at Epworth Healthcare in Melbourne, tells ARR. “Respiratory physicians have a better knowledge and understanding of Late Effects of Polio and Post Polio Syndrome than previously, but we are still learning. Even within the universities and the medical fraternity, teaching emphasises the acute poliomyelitis condition rather than the Late Effects of Poliomyelitis or PPS.”

“The commonest cause of respiratory compromise in polio survivors relates to restrictive lung disease (a decrease in the total volume of air that the lungs are able to hold), but this is often confused with having obstructive lung disease as in asthma, chronic bronchitis or emphysema. However, it doesn’t exclude them from having obstructive lung disease”, says Dr de Graaff.

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