Christian Charity Aims to Eradicate Clubfoot in Children
A Christian medical charity will step-up its 10-year initiative to eradicate clubfoot in children worldwide in 2008.
CURE International, an organization offering physical and spiritual healing to disabled children in developing countries, plans to treat more than double the number of clubfoot children by the end of 2008 than its past two years combined.
Since its inception two years ago, the CURE Clubfoot Worldwide program has healed over 1,200 children from Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia. In Kenya alone, 682 children with clubfoot have been treated during the time period, and 321 children were cured in Ethiopia.
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The U.S.-based charity plans to care for over 4,000 clubfoot children by the end of next year.
"The success of reaching and treating a large number of children during the initial phase of CURE Clubfoot Worldwide only reinforces the need for this program," said Andrew Mayo, executive director of CURE Clubfoot Worldwide.
Mayo noted that in developed countries clubfoot is diagnosed and treated within a few weeks after birth so people rarely see its effects, and many are unaware it exists. Few people know that start athletes like Mia Hamm and Troy Aikman were born with clubfoot.
Clubfoot is one of the most common congenital birth defects and can easily be treated with early identification. However, clubfoot is still a widespread problem in the developing world where more than 200,000 children will be born with clubfoot – most of which will not receive the needed medical attention to cure the defect.
If left untreated, clubfoot will twist the ankles of victims inwards and downwards so that only the heel, toes or the outer edge of the foot touches the ground. Clubfoot makes walking difficult or impossible and can be a social stigma leading to isolation of the victim.
"For so many children like Rauhiya (recipient of CURE's clubfoot treatment), CURE is transforming their lives," said Dr. Scott Harrison, founder and director of CURE International.
"But beyond impacting individual patients and their families, we are providing a long-term solution to the health care challenges faced by many countries in the developing world when it comes to taking care of disabled children," he said.
The goal of the CURE Clubfoot Worldwide program is to create treatment networks in each country that will raise awareness about the clubfoot deformity, train national medical professionals to perform simple, corrective casting procedures and provide funding for poor children who cannot afford treatment.
"Clubfoot cannot be forgotten because it still torments so many children around the world," said CURE's Mayo.
Some 2 million children are estimated to be born with clubfoot over the next 10 years.
CURE International, in addition to treating children, has helped establish specialty teaching hospitals, building partnerships and advocating for disabled children in the developing world. To date, CURE has performed 41,000 surgeries and treated more than 600,000 patients.
