Help a child overcome disability due to clubfoot

Clubfoot is a congenital birth defect wherein one or both the feet are turned inwards, making it a leading cause of disability in children in the developing world. In India, every year 33,000 children are born with clubfoot i.e. India accounts for 20% of the global clubfoot births. Although clubfoot can very easily be treated, more than 85% of the affected children do not have access to treatment. The lack of access is on account of distance, lack of medical supplies, lack of trained healthcare providers, unawareness that clubfoot is a treatable problem and importance of completing treatment. Untreated clubfoot could have multi-fold and devastating effects on the child, the parents, the community and the economy. Physically, untreated clubfoot is extremely painful. At a social level, both the mother and child are considered cursed, isolated, children live with feelings of shame, loss of schooling, opportunities, discrimination, increased chances of sexual abuse, and inferiority complex. Economically, there is loss of employment opportunities, loss of GDP, and reduced capacity of each untreated patient.

Clubfoot can be very easily treated by the Ponseti method- a simple, effective low cost treatment that is well suited for low resource settings. In order to address the reasons of untreated clubfoot, MiracleFeet India’s program offerings include the following:

1. Clubfoot Clinics: We establish weekly clubfoot clinic day(s) in select hospitals to ensure that parents of children with clubfoot have access at a reasonable distance and time. We partner mainly with the government and their hospitals and few charitable and trust hospitals.
2. Medical Training: Training healthcare workers and practitioners in the Ponseti Method.We provide basic, advanced and train the trainers courses.
3. Awareness, identification and referral: We have designed and implement an early identification and referral strategy so that a child is brought for clubfoot treatment before the age of 1 year. In our efforts to do so we leverage the government system and community health workers.
4. Counselling: Effective counselling and parent support go a long way in treatment adherence and dropout prevention.
5. Medical supplies: We provide medical supplies including free foot abduction braces (required in the maintenance phase) that have been designed in partnership with Stanford Design School’s Extreme Affordability course.

Currently MiracleFeet India is present in 8 states- Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra across 75 districts through 86 clinics.

Our aim is to ensure that no child in India should grow up disabled as a result of being born with clubfoot.

In terms of impact our primary aim is to ensure that a child completes the entire course of treatment and can stand up, walk, play with their fully corrected feet.

In the long term, against an investment of Rs. 35,000/- per child, the expected lifetime earnings are Rs. 42 lakhs.

We also want to create awareness about clubfoot in the entire Indian community, rural and urban that clubfoot is a treatable birth condition and children can avail treatment (and should avail treatment) within one week of being born. This also includes addressing myths associated with clubfoot children and their mothers.

Ensure that there are adequate Ponseti trained professionals in each district in India so that every child can access quality treatment.

Ensure that free foot abduction braces are available to all children during the maintenance phase of their treatment.