Ghana’s Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, has engaged with amputees and disability advocates in a meeting that placed prosthetic access, counselling, economic opportunity and national data at the centre of Ghana’s disability inclusion agenda. The engagement was organised by Smiles of Hope as part of activities marking Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, bringing together persons living with amputations, supporters and advocates to share lived experiences and policy concerns.
According to the report by MyJoyOnline, Smiles of Hope presented a petition and policy proposals to the Minister, calling for urgent and coordinated action to improve the welfare and inclusion of amputees in Ghana. Founder Valeria Adzatia outlined key structural challenges facing persons with limb loss, including the high cost and limited availability of prosthetic services, restricted access to economic opportunities, lack of structured counselling before and after amputation, and the absence of a comprehensive national amputee database.
For Ghana’s prosthetics, orthotics and rehabilitation community, the engagement is important because it moves the conversation beyond charity and sympathy. It frames limb loss as a long-term health, rehabilitation, social protection and economic inclusion issue.
One of the central issues raised by Smiles of Hope was the high cost and limited availability of prosthetic services. This challenge is familiar across many African countries, where patients may survive amputation but then face long delays, unaffordable device costs, limited fitting services, and poor access to repairs or replacement parts.
A prosthesis is not a one-time product. It is part of a continuing rehabilitation pathway that includes:
Without this pathway, many amputees remain excluded from work, education, family responsibilities and community participation. Ghana’s disability inclusion agenda therefore needs to treat prosthetic care as an essential service linked to health, rehabilitation and social protection, not as an optional support delivered only when donations are available.
The petition also raised concern about the lack of structured pre- and post-amputation counselling protocols in healthcare facilities. This is a major issue. Amputation is not only a surgical event; it is a life-changing physical, emotional and social transition.
Patients may face grief, fear, depression, body image concerns, family pressure, income loss and uncertainty about mobility. If counselling is absent, patients and families may leave hospital without understanding what happens next, where to access prosthetic care, how to protect the residual limb, or what rehabilitation support is needed.
A stronger amputee-care pathway should include:
For many amputees, early counselling can change the entire recovery journey. It helps patients understand that amputation is not the end of mobility, work or dignity.
Smiles of Hope also highlighted the lack of a comprehensive national amputee database. This is one of the most important policy points in the article. Without reliable data, governments cannot properly plan prosthetic services, rehabilitation budgets, training needs, component supply, regional service coverage or social support programmes.
A national amputee database could help Ghana understand:
For O&P providers and policy-makers, data is not an administrative luxury. It is the foundation for proper service planning.
The petition also identified restricted access to economic opportunities as a key challenge for persons with limb loss. This is critical. Prosthetic care is not only about walking; it is about participation.
An amputee may need a prosthesis to return to farming, trading, teaching, office work, transport, parenting or school. But a device alone may not be enough if employers discriminate, transport is inaccessible, vocational retraining is unavailable, or social protection programmes do not reach the person.
A serious disability inclusion strategy should connect prosthetic and rehabilitation services with:
The goal should be independence and participation, not simply device delivery.
Ghana has a growing disability advocacy landscape, but prosthetic and orthotic services remain under pressure. Many patients still struggle to access affordable, high-quality devices and long-term follow-up. The engagement between the Gender Minister and amputee advocates creates an opportunity to strengthen the link between government policy, rehabilitation services and the lived experience of amputees.
For the O&P sector, the priorities are clear:
Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month is important because it gives visibility to people whose needs are often hidden. But visibility must lead to action. The Smiles of Hope petition gives Ghana a practical starting point: prosthetic access, counselling, economic inclusion and national data.
These are achievable policy goals if government, NGOs, clinicians, O&P professionals, disability organisations, hospitals and development partners work together.
For Ghana, the next step should be to develop a more structured national amputee support pathway. This could include hospital counselling protocols, referral systems, prosthetic funding mechanisms, regional rehabilitation access, peer-support networks and a national registry of limb-loss needs.
The engagement between Ghana’s Gender Minister and amputee advocates is a positive and timely step. It recognises that persons with limb loss need more than sympathy. They need prosthetic access, counselling, reliable data, social protection, employment opportunities and full inclusion in national development.
For the IMEA CPO community, Ghana’s example reinforces an important message: amputation care must be treated as a lifelong rehabilitation pathway. A person who loses a limb should not be left to navigate surgery, disability, prosthetic access, trauma and livelihood loss alone.
If Ghana can turn this engagement into policy and funding action, it could become an important model for disability inclusion and amputee support across West Africa.