Solution for hundreds of people: This artificial knee costs 80 instead of $ 20,000

Today, 6328 people in 14 countries use the artificial knee. Picture: d-rev

Landmines maim thousands of people worldwide every year and make them amputees. A prosthesis can not afford many victims. The NGO Rev D-San Francisco wants to change that - with a knee joint for $ 80
 anti-personnel mines are considered one of the darkest plagues of modern times. Bury millions, it is explode on contact and kill thousands of people every year or hurt them badly. According to estimates by the NGO Handicap International good 110 million land mines were buried in more than 70 countries.Since 1997 the global landmine ban exists. Ratified it but was only of 161 of all 193 member countries: China, India and Russia have not signed the international agreement, the United States waving until 2014.Those who survive the explosion, is mostly dependent on life-long prostheses. In 2011, according to Handicap International recorded nearly 3,000 wounded. Many stakeholders in developing countries remains the access to prosthetics denied - not only victims of landmines. Krista Donaldson wants to change that. She is Chair of the NGO D-Rev in San Francisco, the name stands for "design revolution". There, among other knee prostheses for people to be developed, earn less than four dollars a day
Affordable and self-lubricating
"Remotion" means the artificial knee of D-Rev, which is to mimic the functions of the human knee and was started by a team of biomechanics students of Stanford University in 2008. The Indian 'Jaipur Foot Organization »had approached the students and had asked them to develop a cheap, good and self-lubricating knee joint for people who can not afford expensive prostheses. Paid the new knee replacement is through donations, so we also funded the development of the new joint.

rthopäde Ralf Decking: "There is an art to creating a thigh quiver, which fits very well." picture:

  D-Rev can produce in China the knee joints of polyoxymethylene. Advantage: This plastic is quick splash or pour into pre-defined shapes. On the website of the NGO states: "Today, 6328 people in 14 countries use the artificial knee." 86 percent of the carrier were so happy. The denture wearers come from countries such as Indonesia, Liberia, India, Sudan and Tanzania
Already on the idea of the TED conference in 2013 presented Krista Donaldson, the prosthetic knee to a wider audience: "In 2003, I helped in the reconstruction of Iraq's electricity grid. I wondered how technology can help people. And as we give them those by the hand, they need the most? "Four years ago she had taken the lead of D-Rev, which has set itself the goal of improving the lives of many people
New knee for 80 instead of 20,000 US dollars
In general, high-tech joints per piece cost about 20,000 US dollars. A cheaper titanium version costs according to D-Rev 1400 US dollars. According to Donaldson, however, this is unstable and works like a door hinge.Ralf decking, chief doctor of orthopedics at Leverkusen Remigius Hospital is excited about the idea from San Francisco. It is excellent to allow easy movement in the knee joint in this way. "The big problem in the supply of such amputations is the mechanics - and to create a good connection to the femur," says the 47-year-old. "So it's an art to creating a thigh quiver, which fits very well." The joint itself, he believes, will work well. It asks whether the user of the prosthesis sore run something up. "That's what matters."How Donaldson explains, working together, the development team with local hospitals and doctors who would trained for the insertion of the prosthesis. "The knee joint is the most complex and most expensive part of a prosthetic leg." Affordable dentures are uniaxial, unstable and resulted in uneven terrain to dangerous loss of balance. In addition, they had only a lower quality and did not work in wet or humid climates. "They squeal when the user runs it, which can also cause psychological stress." In the meantime prevents damping mechanism that the prosthesis squeaks.D-Rev plans in May to the third version of "remotion" to go to the start. Then, several hundred amputees worldwide get new knee joints.