Dimapur, June 2 (MExN): With a goal to raise awareness about Clubfoot disability and its prevention, the Ponseti International Association (PIA) has designated June 3 as World Clubfoot Day with the theme “World free of Clubfoot Deformity”.
Clubfoot is a condition where the foot is twisted inward. It can be corrected with serial cast and a special shoe. Without treatment, people with club feet often appear to walk on their ankles or on the sides of their feet.
The date was chosen to commemorate the birth date of Dr. Ignacio Ponseti, (1914 - 2009) the developer of the Ponseti Method to treat Clubfoot. The Ponseti Method is a non-surgical treatment that includes gentle manipulation of the feet followed by the application of plaster casts and temporary bracing/shoe.
Many children born with clubfoot are misunderstood as polio affected children. In India, a child with Clubfoot is born every 10 minutes, i.e., over 50,000 children every year.
According to a press release from Tiarenla Jamir, Nagaland State Programme Coordinator, CURE International India, it is estimated that 60–70 are born with Clubfoot every year in Nagaland.
“From our experience we learn that there is very less awareness among the public that clubfoot can be treated,” Jamir stated in the press release. Many children undergo expensive surgery resulting in lifetime pain and non-shoe-wearable foot, it added.
With a goal to eradicate disability caused by Clubfoot in India, CURE International India began its services in April 2009 providing free treatment for children with Clubfoot. In Nagaland, CURE Clubfoot Nagaland started in September 2012 at Naga Hospital Authority Kohima and to date, 46 children have been enrolled from the state. A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Govt. of Nagaland and Cure International India on March 25, 2013.
CURE International India is a national health care organization working in partnership with Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Tripura, Sikkim, J&K and Chattisgarh State Government to provide training and managerial support and we are successfully running state level Clubfoot. For more information, one may contact the CURE Clubfoot Nagaland Helpline at 9615606161.
