Global Strategy to End Clubfoot Disability 2030 Launched on World Clubfoot Day

    NEW CUMBERLAND, PA, June 07, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Today on World Clubfoot Day, CURE International, along with its partners in the Global Clubfoot Initiative, launched a bold strategy with a vision of a world where every child born with clubfoot walks free from disability.

Ending Clubfoot Disability: A Global Strategy to 2030 has an ambition to ensure that by the year 2030 at least 70% of children born with clubfoot in lower and middle countries can access treatment. Currently, less than 15% of children in these countries access treatment that would prevent a lifetime of disability.

Every year 174,000 children in the world are born with clubfoot, a birth defect in which one or both feet are turned in and downward. Clubfoot can be very effectively and inexpensively treated using the Ponseti method[1]; world-class athletes such as Mia Hamm and Kristi Yamaguchi went on to have extraordinary careers thanks to receiving effective treatment at a young age.

Despite this, over 4 in 5 children in lower and middle income countries face a lifetime severely affected by clubfoot, experiencing ongoing pain, limited mobility, and reduced opportunities in education, employment and relationships. This does not have to be the case.

This Global Clubfoot Strategy sets out a comprehensive approach, tackling the issue of clubfoot on a global scale through developing and supporting national clubfoot programs. With a total investment of $160 million it will be possible to treat over 1.2 million children, generating $154 billion in additional lifetime earnings and creating the capacity for each country to manage clubfoot on an ongoing basis by 2030.

By working towards 2030, the Global Clubfoot Strategy aligns with World Health Organisation Rehabilitation 2030 Call to Action, the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

Chris Lavy, Senior Advisor to CURE and Chair of Global Clubfoot Initiative and Professor of Orthopaedic and Tropical Surgery at Oxford University, said "We do not know how to prevent clubfoot but we do know how to treat it - and today it costs less than $400 a child. Every year many thousands of children are left with preventable disability as a result of clubfoot; currently there are over one million children living with untreated clubfoot and that number continues to grow. We have the solution and that is why we are launching this bold strategy with an ambition to end clubfoot disability. Based on the evidence and learning from a decade of experience, this blueprint involves working with local partners and Ministries of Health to develop and support national clubfoot programs in 105 lower and middle income countries over the next 14 years. We invite others to join us to make our vision a reality."

Endnotes
Images and footage about clubfoot and its treatment around the world are available at https://cure.org/press/

World Clubfoot Day, on June 3, commemorates the birthday of Ignacio Ponseti, the pioneer of the Ponseti technique for clubfoot. For more information:

• cure.org/clubfoot
• cure.org/runfree2030
• www.globalclubfoot.com/runfree2030
• #RunFree2030

About CURE International

CURE International is a Christian health care network that operates charitable hospitals and programs worldwide where patients experience the life-changing message of God's love for them, receiving treatment regardless of gender, religion, or ethnicity. For more information, visit https://cure.org/.

About Global Clubfoot Initiative

Global Clubfoot Initiative (GCI) is an umbrella organization for organizations working with children with clubfoot in LMIC. Through advocacy, education and collaboration GCI works towards the goal it shares with its partners: that every child born with clubfoot should receive the treatment they need to live a life free from disability.

GCI partners with all of the major organizations providing services for children with clubfoot in LMIC who between them enroll more than 23,000 children for Ponseti treatment each year. Collectively these organizations have a vast wealth of knowledge and experience in setting up and running national clubfoot programs in some of the most challenging environments in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

GCI Governing Partners are CBM International; CURE International; Feetfirst Worldwide; International Committee of the Red Cross; Miraclefeet; Mobility Outreach International; STEPS UK and Walk for Life.

[1] The Ponseti method of treatment is accepted as the gold standard clubfoot treatment. Treatment involves serial castings over a 5-8-week period, a minor outpatient surgical procedure (tenotomy) and a foot abduction brace, worn while sleeping for 4-5 years to maintain the correction and reduce risk of relapse. The Ponseti method is cost efficient and has been shown to be effective when done correctly in up to 98% of cases. Given the relatively simple process the treatment is well suited to low resource settings.

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