Iraq’s Orthotic & Prosthetic Industry: Rebuilding Limbs, Rebuilding a System

A country where war made rehabilitation a national need

Few countries illustrate the link between conflict and rehabilitation as starkly as Iraq. Four decades of war, sanctions, terrorism and political instability have left not only physical scars in the landscape, but a vast, long-term demand for prosthetic and orthotic (P&O) services.

Today, Iraq is cautiously moving from emergency response to system-building: universities are opening dedicated P&O departments, the Ministry of Health runs a nationwide network of rehabilitation centres, and the Kurdistan Region is home to one of the Middle East’s few ISPO-accredited programs. But the scale of unmet need remains huge.

The scale of need: disability, amputation and children at risk

People with disabilities. Recent reporting drawing on Human Rights Watch estimates suggests that around three million people in Iraq live with some form of disability, much of it directly or indirectly linked to war injuries, violence, protests and infrastructural collapse.

Children with disabilities. By applying international disability prevalence to Iraq’s age structure, one recent analysis estimates around 1.3 million Iraqi children live with a disability—acknowledging that stigma, under-diagnosis and poor data collection probably mean this is a conservative figure. For P&O, this translates into long-term demand for paediatric orthoses (CP, spina bifida, clubfoot residual deformity), seating, and assistive technology.

Explosive remnants of war and landmines. The Directorate for Mine Action has recorded 34,870 casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in Iraq as of the end of 2022—people killed or injured over decades of contamination from the Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 invasion and the fight against ISIS.  In 2025, the ICRC estimated that around 2,100 km² of land remains contaminated—roughly the size of 300,000 football pitches—continuing to generate new amputees each year.

Displacement and vulnerability. At the height of the ISIS conflict, around seven million Iraqis were internally displaced. As of mid-2024, about 1.1 million people are still IDPs, with large numbers living in or returning to areas with damaged infrastructure, limited health services and high contamination by ERW. Displaced and returnee populations often have the lowest access to rehabilitation and assistive devices.

How many amputees? There is no single, current, authoritative figure for amputees. However:

• Landmine/ERW casualties run into tens of thousands; a significant share of survivors have major limb loss.

• On top of conflict-related amputations are those from diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, road-traffic trauma and occupational injuries—conditions that have risen as Iraq’s epidemiological profile shifts.

Taken together, most observers infer hundreds of thousands of people living with limb loss or severe limb impairment, and a far larger group requiring orthotic rather than prosthetic solutions.

For anyone thinking about market volumes, that means:

• Millions living with disability;

• Hundreds of thousands who could benefit directly from prosthetic or orthotic devices;

• Tens of thousands who may require device replacement or adjustment each year.

From craft to campus: Iraq’s emerging P&O university ecosystem

One of the most striking developments since 2018 has been the move to institutionalise P&O training inside Iraqi universities, often in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and the ICRC.

Some key nodes:

Erbil Polytechnic University – Prosthetic and Orthotics Department (ISPO-accredited)

• Established in 2020 within Erbil Technical Health and Medical College.

• Developed as a model department with strong backing from the ICRC and the Ministries of Higher Education and Health in both the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq.

• Listed by ISPO as an accredited Prosthetist/Orthotist programme—important for international recognition and mobility of graduates.

University of Karbala – Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics Engineering

• Located in the College of Engineering, this department explicitly links engineering science with clinical prosthetic & orthotic applications. 

• Created through coordination between the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Health, the Supreme Committee for Limbs and Industrial Supports, and the ICRC, as a response to the high numbers of people with limb loss and disability. 

• In 2025, the department launched a Master’s programme to deepen local expertise in prosthetic technology, materials and biomechanics. 

Al-Nahrain University – Prosthetics and Orthotics Engineering

• A specialised department within the College of Engineering in Baghdad, focused on preparing engineers for design, manufacture and optimisation of prosthetic and orthotic components.

Al-Mustaqbal University College – Prosthetics and Orthotics Engineering

• A private-sector university that describes the P&O Engineering department as a “rare” field combining engineering and medical sciences, reflecting rapid growth and modernisation in recent years.

Al-Shaab College – Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics Engineering

• Positions itself as one of the rare specialised engineering departments in Iraq, responding to strong labour market demand for P&O engineers.

Northern Technical University – Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics Technologies

• Trains technicians for work in medical rehabilitation centres across all provinces; notes that graduates are employed in both Ministry of Health centres and a growing private rehabilitation sector, which now outnumbers public facilities.

Together, these programmes are beginning to shift Iraq from a purely workshop-based, craft-knowledge model to a layered professional ecosystem: technicians, engineering graduates and (in Erbil’s case) internationally recognised clinician-level prosthetists and orthotists.

Service provision: a nationwide public network plus a growing private sector

On the service side, Iraq has something many countries in the region still lack: a formal, national network of prosthetic and orthotic centres anchored in the public health system, heavily supported by the ICRC.

According to a 2025 ICRC FAQ, the Ministry of Health physical rehabilitation network now includes P&O or physical rehabilitation centres in virtually every governorate, including:

• Baghdad: multiple centres such as Al Hamza, Al Mustafa, Al Muammal, Al Ghadeer, Al Salam, Baghdad Prosthetics Centre, Sadr Al-Qanat Centre, Al Hakeem Prosthetics Centre, and specialised units like Ibn Al-Quff Hospital for spinal cord injury and an orthotics workshop at Al-Wasiti Hospital focused on paediatric clubfoot.

• Central & Southern governorates: dedicated P&O and rehabilitation centres in Najaf, Thi Qar (Nasiriyah), Basra, Karbala, Babil, Wasit, Diwaniyah, Muthana, Maysan, Salah al-Din, Anbar, Diyala and others.

• Ninewa & Kirkuk: prosthetic/orthotic workshops alongside physical rehabilitation centres and hospitals in Mosul and Kirkuk.

• Kurdistan Region: an especially dense cluster including the ICRC-run Erbil Physical Rehabilitation Centre and multiple P&O and rehabilitation centres in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah (including the Kurdistan Center for Rehabilitation of Disabled and Halabja Centre), and Duhok.

These facilities provide free or highly subsidised prosthetic limbs, orthoses, physical therapy and assistive devices, after clinical assessment, representing the backbone of Iraq’s rehabilitation system.

At the same time:

• The Northern Technical University explicitly notes that private rehabilitation centres now outnumber public facilities, indicating a fast-growing private market for prosthetic and orthotic services in urban areas.

• International and local NGOs—such as the ICRC, Humanity & Inclusion, and others—continue to support specific centres with training, materials, and complex cases, particularly in mine-affected and conflict-impacted governorates.

For clinicians and suppliers, this landscape means:

• A large, stable public market driven by MoH procurement and donor support;

• A fragmented but expanding private market in major cities, with potential demand for higher-end components, digital workflow, and paediatric/orthopaedic specialty services.

Market volumes: what do the numbers suggest?

Based on current public data, some reasonable order-of-magnitude indicators for O&P market volumes in Iraq are:

• Population: around 45–46 million (2023 estimate).

• People with disabilities: ≈3 million (about 6–7% of the population) living with some form of disability, according to disability-focused reporting referencing Human Rights Watch.

• Children with disabilities: around 1.3 million (by applying child disability prevalence to Iraq’s child population). 

• Landmine/ERW casualties: 34,870 recorded casualties (killed or injured) by end-2022; many survivors have limb loss or severe limb impairment. 

• Internally displaced persons: ≈1.1 million IDPs still in displacement as of 2024, many in areas with high injury risk and poor access to services.

If we take just mobility-impairing conditions (traumatic amputations, stroke, spinal cord injury, advanced osteoarthritis, cerebral palsy, polio sequelae, diabetic foot, etc.), a conservative assumption that 10–15% of people with disabilities need some form of prosthetic, orthotic or technical mobility aid would already translate into 300,000–450,000 potential direct P&O users nationwide.

Because devices wear out, children grow, and clinical conditions evolve, many of these users will require:

• Device replacement every 3–5 years for prostheses (more frequently for active users and children);

• Regular adjustments or new devices for orthotic users as deformity progresses or gait changes;

• Ongoing maintenance and repair, particularly in rural and contaminated areas.

That dynamic demand underpins a sustained, recurring market for components, materials, digital tools and technical training—rather than a one-off “post-war” peak.

Children, conflict and lifelong need

For paediatric P&O, the interaction between war and disability is especially harsh:

• UNICEF reported dozens of children killed and injured by ERW in just the first eight months of 2021, underlining how contamination continues to create new paediatric amputees even years after major fighting ends.

• The Iraqi Children Foundation notes that more than 800,000 children were orphaned as a result of war, and more than 1.3 million were displaced during the fight against ISIS—layers of vulnerability that strongly correlate with injury risk, poor access to rehabilitation, and long-term psychosocial impact.

Every child who loses a limb at age 6–10 may need dozens of prosthetic sockets, liners and component changes over a lifetime, plus periodic orthotic management for contractures, scoliosis or contralateral overuse. For orthotists and prosthetists, this is not only a humanitarian imperative—it is also a strong structural driver of long-term service demand.

Key challenges facing the Iraqi O&P sector

Despite genuine progress, several systemic constraints shape the Iraqi P&O landscape:

1. Human resource gaps.

   • The number of formally trained prosthetists, orthotists, engineers and technicians still lags far behind estimated needs.

   • New university departments are young; many staff are first-generation academics in this field. 

2. Geographic inequities.

   • MoH centres exist in all governorates, but travel for assessment and follow-up remains a significant barrier—especially for people in rural, mountainous or contaminated areas.

3. Data quality.

   • There is no unified national registry of amputees or orthotic users; disability statistics are fragmented across ministries and agencies, with under-reporting in marginalised communities and among women and girls.

4. Supply chains and technology.

   • Centres depend on imported components, resins, thermoplastics and liners; sanctions and currency fluctuations periodically disrupt supply and raise costs.

   • While some pilot projects have explored 3D printing and digital workflows, scale-up is limited by infrastructure, training and reliable local maintenance.

5. Integrated care.

   • Global standards emphasise strong linkage between acute care, surgery, physiotherapy, psychosocial support and P&O services. In practice, referral pathways in Iraq are still uneven, especially at primary care level. 

Opportunities: what’s taking shape in Iraq’s P&O future?

Despite the challenges, the trajectory is promising, especially if you look through an O&P lens:

• Academic–clinical partnerships.
  Departments at Karbala, Al-Nahrain, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Shaab and Erbil Polytechnic are increasingly collaborating with MoH and ICRC-supported centres for clinical placements, joint research and continuing professional development.

• ISPO accreditation as a quality anchor.
  Erbil Polytechnic University’s ISPO-recognised programme gives Iraq a benchmark for curriculum, clinical exposure and lab standards that other programmes can align with, raising overall quality. 

• Local manufacturing and engineering R&D.
  Engineering-oriented departments are already publishing on prosthetic socket design, fatigue strength and stiffness/weight optimisation, signalling a shift from purely “import and fit” to design and innovate locally.

• Market segmentation and specialisation.
  As private centres grow, there is room for:

  • High-end microprocessor prostheses in urban markets;

  • Cost-optimised, durable devices for rural and mine-affected regions;

  • Paediatric subspecialties (CP gait, neuromuscular disorders);

  • Diabetic foot and preventive orthotic clinics integrated with endocrinology and vascular services.

• Digital workflows and tele-rehab.
  Given security and distance constraints, Iraq is a natural candidate for scan-to-fit workflows, tele-consultation between provincial centres and academic hubs, and cloud-based device tracking and follow-up—especially as more young engineers enter the sector.

Conclusion: from emergency to ecosystem

For decades, Iraq’s orthotic and prosthetic sector was framed as a humanitarian emergency: a patchwork of war-injury responses, NGO projects and isolated workshops struggling to keep up with the tide of new amputees.

That picture is changing.

• A national MoH/ICRC rehabilitation network now spans all governorates.

• Universities have embraced P&O as both an engineering and health discipline, from Baghdad and Karbala to Erbil and Babylon. 

• A growing private sector is emerging to complement public services and adopt newer technologies.

The numbers—millions living with disability, hundreds of thousands of potential prosthetic and orthotic users, and a steady stream of conflict- and disease-related cases—point not to a fading need, but to a long-term national industry.

For orthotists, prosthetists, engineers, policy-makers and suppliers looking at Iraq, the message is clear: this is no longer just a “post-war” humanitarian market. It is an evolving ecosystem where investment in training, standards, local manufacturing and digital innovation can meaningfully improve lives—and where, for the foreseeable future, the demand for high-quality orthotic and prosthetic care will only grow.