Parents of children with clubfoot have been celebrating the successful treatment of their children in the more than 40 clubfoot clinics of the Cameroon Clubfoot Care Program (CCCP). This was during commemorative activities marking World Clubfoot Day celebrated every June 3 across the globe by clubfoot treatment stakeholders.
The goal of World Clubfoot Day is to raise awareness about clubfoot disability and its prevention using the Ponseti Method, a non-surgical treatment that includes gentle manipulation of the feet followed by the application of plaster casts and bracing.
In Cameroon, commemorative activities were organised over the national territory by the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with the Cameroon Clubfoot Care Program which was initiated in 2014 by the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services. This year’s theme for the celebration is: “Strengthening Early Detection and Referral of Clubfoot in Health Districts”.
Parents whose children are currently undergoing or have completed treatment turned out in their numbers to share stories of their children’s treatment. Most of the parents testify that their hopes have been restored, thanks to the effective treatment and compassionate care received at the clubfoot treatment clinics. Educative talks, sketches, demonstration of the ponseti treatment method and parent support group meetings also characterized the day.
During commemorative activities at the Nkwen Baptist Hospital Clubfoot clinic, Quinthelma, a mother from Nkambe, expressed her joy after her son’s clubfoot was successfully corrected at the Nkwen Baptist Hospital Clubfoot Clinic and is being maintained in the corrected position.
At the Bafoussam Baptist Hospital (BaBH) Clinic, 10 children graduated from clubfoot treatment after successfully completing their treatment for 4 years. The occasion was celebrated with the presentation of footballs and other gifts to encourage play and social interaction with their peers.
Many clinics also held parent support group meetings during which parents shared their experiences with each other with parents whose children are old in treatment encouraging the new ones.
Following this year’s theme, the Minister of Public Health made a call for Cameroonians to collectively encourage parents of children with clubfoot to take their children for treatment as health is a fundamental human right. He also called on all health district actors, including doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers to adopt a systematic examination and referral of children with clubfoot in their routine activities to enable all children with clubfoot to access treatment.
Meanwhile the CBC Director of Health Services, Mr. Ngum Samuel called on everyone especially the actors promoting the Ponseti clubfoot treatment, not to relent efforts in making sure that every child born with this deformity receives the right treatment and follow up within the early years of life.
World Clubfoot Day was preceded by weeklong activities including, screening of children for clubfoot in health facilities, awareness creation activities in health facilities, schools, churches, other social gatherings, and in the media.
Clubfoot is a foot deformity in which a child is born with the foot or feet twisted inwards. It is the most common musculoskeletal birth deformity, affecting 200,000 newborn children each year, 80 percent in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Since the Cameroon Clubfoot Care Project started in 2014 more than 3,500 children have been treated of the clubfoot deformity using the Ponseti technique which is nearly 100 percent effective and is considered as the “Gold standard” method of treating the clubfoot deformity.
It should be noted that activities of the Cameroon Clubfoot Care Program in the Northwest, Southwest, West, Adamawa, Center and Littoral Regions are funded by Hope and Healing International and by Christian Blind Mission in the North and Far North Regions.
