Third Phase of CCCP Closeout, Stakeholders applaud Strides Recorded
The Third Phase of the Cameroon Clubfoot Care Project (CCCP) has ended with the Project recording 90.3% treatment target as of second week of December 2023. The phase which started in 2020 ended in December 2023 with a Stakeholder and Management meeting that took place in Yaounde recently. The meetings which brought together the management and stakeholder members were intended to present achievements, and challenges recorded in this phase of the Project and to chart a sustainable way forward for the management of Clubfoot in Cameroon.
The Management and stakeholder meetings which took place on separate days respectively were chaired by the Sub Director for Human Resource Development at the Ministry of Public Health, Madam KETCHIA Assumpta in the presence of the Director of CBC Health Services, Prof. Tih Pius. During the meetings, the Project Coordinator, Mr. Tamon James disclosed in his presentation that the Third Phase of the Project was implemented in 17 clinics in six regions; Northwest, Southwest, Center, Littoral, Adamawa, and West. He also presented the targets from the different clinics which contributed to the overall treatment target recorded by the project.
According to the Project Coordinator, 1445 new cases enrolled for treatment from January 2020 to second week of December 2023. To improve the quality of clubfoot treatment, close to 1,150 nurses and midwives, teachers of midwifery schools, physiotherapy, tenotomy technicians were trained. To achieve the overall objective of the project which is to reduce the incidence of mobility impairment caused by clubfoot, the project with support from CBM donated treatment materials comprising Plaster of Paris (PoP), Orthopedic soft band, and Foot Abduction Braces to all the clubfoot clinics.
One of the strides recorded by the Project in the third phase was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Public Health and the CBC Health Services for the management of clubfoot in Cameroon, the appointment of a clubfoot focal person at MOH, the insertion of a module on clubfoot/Ponseti technique in the training curriculum of health personnel, and reporting clubfoot in DHIS 2 which contributed significantly to the achievements.
Despite the achievements, the Project recorded challenges like limited access to treatment for delayed presenting clubfoot, slow integration of clubfoot into district health activities, and many cases of complicated clubfoot received in clubfoot clinics amongst others.
Given that the third phase of the project has come to a close, the expectations are that clubfoot services will be expanded to the other four regions of Cameroon to have national coverage, the capacity of district health services to integrate clubfoot into district health activities will be strengthened, the process of integrating clubfoot into Universal Health Coverage package will be finalized and that there will be increased capacity of clubfoot surgery in the country through training of orthopedic surgeons.
Participants at the meetings applauded the achievements of the project for the past years and made suggestions to ensure the sustainability of results. The stakeholder meeting was also attended by some parents who shared their testimonies on how successful the treatment of their children turned out.
In an interview with the Sub Director, Madam Assumpta underscored that the Clubfoot Project has done well given that many children accessed services. She acknowledged the challenges recorded in the course of implementation and noted that strategies will be put in place for better outcomes. She described the partnership between the CBC Health Services and MoH as that which has been fruitful and has put smiles on the faces of children with clubfoot who successfully accessed services.
At the close of the meetings, the Director of CBC Health Services expressed gratitude to all the stakeholders especially service providers for recording a high treatment target. “Thank you that you have singled out yourself to make clubfoot treatment available and to show how feasible and cost-effective it is”. Prof. Tih implored them to be trainers wherever they go so that children with clubfoot will always have access to treatment.
It should be noted that this phase of the project which ran for four years had a specific objective to improve access to quality clubfoot care for 1600 new cases of clubfoot in 6 regions. With the end of this phase of the project, fingers are crossed for another phase of the clubfoot project.
The Project was implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health with support from CBM.