Women engineers improving health care in Africa

The rate of breast cancer in South Africa is on the rise, and demand for prostheses is so high that the few African conventional prosthesis manufacturers can hardly keep up. “Conventional prosthesis production processes are time consuming and require highly skilled people who can sculpt a new prosthesis. But we don’t have enough artistically skilled people to meet the ever-increasing demand for prosthesis.” 

3D modelling takes both the individual body’s anatomy as well as skin pigmentation into consideration.

3D modelling is a design process that takes both the individual body’s anatomy as well as skin pigmentation into consideration and requires less human intervention. Likoebe Innovations is scaling up to produce perfectly fitting breast prostheses that are less expensive and invasive than breast reconstruction surgery.

So far, Likoebe Innovations has come out with two prototypes for testing and plans to officially launch operations in 2017. The young team of researchers has established a network of medical professionals, primarily breast surgeons, to partner in the venture. They are offering to produce individual prosthesis for their patients as proof of concept.

Furthermore, Likoebe Innovations wants to raise awareness of the risks of breast cancer. “There are women with cancer who do not consider a mastectomy because they do not want to lose a breast and because many don’t know much about prosthesis rehabilitation,” Nneile says. “We are currently doing some work to determine possible ways of detecting cancer-carrying cells very early in the breast, before they manifest rapidly, and also advise women to undergo mastectomy early before the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.”

For her determination to improve prosthesis production in Africa, 27-year-old Nneile was nominated top female innovator in sub-Saharan Africa at the World Economic Forum 2016. The jury was convinced that Likoebe Innovations would have great positive impact on healthcare in Africa, even though Nneile is a mechanical engineer who specialises in additive manufacturing and not a medical doctor. “There is a great need for mechanical engineers with expertise in 3D design for custom prosthesis and implant production,” she explains. 

While working on a related research project, Nneile noticed that prosthesis demand far outstripped the supply the few prosthesis manufacturing companies in South Africa could provide. She was convinced women needed to take an active role in creating solutions to meet the challenges women face, like breast cancer. Likoebe Innovations was founded by a team of four young women under the age of 30, two of whom are engineers. “I believe that Likoebe Innovations’s purpose should be to create opportunities for talented women interested in the application of additive manufacturing in medicine. They should create products that have a meaningful impact on women’s lives.”

“They should create products that have a meaningful impact on women’s lives.”