Sustainable Clubfoot Care in the Developing World

Sue Banton

steps Charity Worldwide

Clubfoot - a spiral into Deformity Disability Dependency Demoralization Depression Despair   Worldwide there are 136,500 annual newborns with Clubfoot - the majority in the developing world have little access to treatment.

Neglected & inadequately treated CF is one of the biggest causes of locomotor disability.

Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Middle East Latin America Europe North america

Why treat clubfoot?

Uganda Sustainable Clubfoot Care Project

April 1, 2004 – September 30, 2010    Participants       University of British Columbia (UBC) Makerere University Medical School (MUMS) Orthopaedic Technology Training School, Mulago (OTTS) School for Orthopaedic Officers, Mulago (SOO) Nursing Council of Uganda (NCU) Comprehensive Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Services of Uganda (CORSU) Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH) Christian Blind Mission (CBM) Canadian International Development Association (CIDA)

Canada-Uganda collaboration to

   

improve sustainable clubfoot care

• • • 6 year CIDA funded project.

1500 babies are born with clubfeet each year in Uganda.

1999 - 2003 pilot project introduced a non surgical method of clubfoot correction (the Ponseti Method).

Aims: Build capacity throughout the Ugandan Healthcare System for the early detection and treatment of the congenital clubfoot.

Build capacity in Ugandan Healthcare Schools to teach detection and management of the clubfoot.

Collect baseline and efficacy data of this method in Uganda.

Outputs: (end of 2 years)

    Incorporated clubfoot detection and management by the Ponseti Method into the curriculum of all medical and paramedical schools in Uganda.

Clubfoot clinics were established at five Regional Referral Hospitals.

An Ethnocultural Survey was completed.

An incidence at birth survey was started.

Does it work in Uganda?

 A multi-partner collaboration is building capacity in Uganda by: • teaching clubfoot care.

• detecting and treating clubfeet in a way that is economically and socially sustainable for Uganda.

Can it work Globally?

The dream is for all countries to have a sustainable clubfoot care programme to eradicate the neglected clubfoot disability that stops so many children from walking.

steps involvement

  Supported training in: • Bulgaria • Brazil • China • Ethiopia • Fiji • Kenya Looking for funding to develop a Sustainable Clubfoot Care programme in Kenya.

Thank You

Ignacio V. Ponseti, MD University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Department of Orthopaedics, Iowa City, Iowa Shafique Pirani, MD, FRCSC Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Faculty of Medicine University of British Columbia Project Director Uganda Sustainable Clubfoot Care Project Dr. Norgrove Penny University of British Columbia Canada

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email - [email protected] uk

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Charity Worldwide Registered Charity No 1094343