Latin America can be divided into four parts. Bordering with the United States is Mexico, next there is Central America then the Northern and Southern parts of South America. Europeans tend to be concentrated in the South where there are many Germans, British, French, Italians and Danes. The further North you travel the more you meet the Indians and their culture and the more you encounter different attitudes. Throughout Latin America there are three different types of services for the amputee: private shops or laboratories, state supported laboratories and government controlled laboratories. Patients can also be divided into three groups: 1. Patients who are financially independent; these usuaily obtain services from private prosthetic/orthotic laboratories or travel abroad for treatment. 2. A very large group of middle or working class patients who are covered by insurance or social security as well as receiving support from their families; they are normally sent to a state supported laboratory, such as my institution, for service. This type of assistance is provided by the majority of the Latin American countries. (In some hospitals or rehabilitation centres where social security services are provided, doctors-mostly physiatrists, issue prescriptions for prostheses or orthoses and send their patients to places from a list of private or government laboratories. The final checkout is done in the institution where the prescription is issued, usually without the participation of the prosthetist.) 3. The great majority of patients are in the low income group and they generally use the services of the government prosthetic/ orthotic laboratories at the Rehabilitation Centres. Many of the patients in the third group fail to take good care of their stumps, due to lack of training, following discharge from hospital. When they come to the Rehabilitation Centre their stumps are often in very bad condition with contractions, heavy subcutaneous tissue, neuromas etc. Consequently, many patients have to start protracted pre-prosthetic treatment or undergo revision surgery. However, the indigent patient cannot afford to pay for a long course of treatment as his income is very low and, because there is no birth control, his family may be large. As a result the patient may insist that the prosthesis be finished quickly so that he can return home and resume supporting his family. Many of these patients will return to the clinic due to changes in their stump. They will complain that the prosthesis was improperly fitted, and insist on getting a new prosthesis. This situation is very common in most of the Latin American countries and results in much wasted time and material. It would be very useful if prosthetic clinics could be attached to the orthopaedic hospitals, but this will be difficult to arrange. It would also be very helpful if more of the new amputees could be fitted with rigid dressings. The use of a temporary pylon prosthesis would also greatly benefit the patient and I am very happy to note the work that is being carried out elsewhere on temporary sockets for the primary amputee. We are particularly interested in the lightweight polypropylene prosthesis. Many Latin American countries are producing this material and the new prosthesis may partially answer our problems of low budgets and difficult