According to the estimates made by the World Health Organization (WHO) almost 1% of the population in the world comprise of people who are disabled and urgently require wheelchairs. This would mean that almost 65 million people are in need to wheelchairs. This situation worsens when statistically seen that about 20 million people need wheelchairs for their mobility but don’t have the access to them. Out of this 20 million, 5 million are children. So the demand of wheelchairs is sky high.

In order to help these people, former plastic executive, Pablo Kaplan turns the expertise in the plastic field into the humanitarian project of ‘Wheelchairs of Hope’. Kaplan and his team are designing the world’s first affordable wheelchair which will be built especially for kids with the help of a 3D printer. This project aims to help the millions of disabled children in all the developing countries to get their own wheelchair and get to school. This project is being backed up by the UN, the World Health Organization (WHO) and two eminent noble prize winners Aaron Ciechanover of Israel and Sir Richard Roberts of UK.

With the extended help from WHO, these wheelchairs of hope are signed up with three regions in Israel, Tajikistan and Palestine as the production sites. At present the project is looking forward for investors to invest on this project. Kaplan pans to produce around one million chairs in the next seven years and also guarantee shipment all over the world at an affordable price of $100.

Image Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography (flickr handle: PinkSherbet)