World Clubfoot Day: Over 10,000 Nigerian Children Born With Clubfoot Yearly – NGO
The President of Nigeria Clubfoot Treatment Partners and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Peace Amaraegbulam, reveals that over 10,000 children are born with clubfoot every year in Nigeria.
He made this known in a press statement to commemorate World Clubfoot Day with the theme, ‘Empowering life: Steps to Clubfoot Freedom.’
World Clubfoot Day is celebrated on June 3rd annually to raise awareness about clubfoot and underscore the importance of early detection, referral, and timely treatment.
The Nigeria Partners on Clubfoot Treatment, which consists of three non-governmental organisations, said no child should suffer from untreated clubfoot and called for the integration of clubfoot treatment into the public health system.
Amaraegbulam described Clubfoot as the most common musculoskeletal birth defect which causes the feet to turn inwards and upwards.
She said, “In Nigeria, over 10,000 children are born with this condition each year and without treatment, walking becomes extremely difficult and painful as children walk on the sides of their feet. This leads to discrimination, social stigmatisation, and loss of economic opportunities.”
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He, however, prescribed the Ponseti treatment as an effective option for clubfoot but lamented that barriers like out-of-pocket healthcare costs, poor access to healthcare facilities, inadequate number of healthcare professionals and lack of foot-abduction braces prevent many Nigerian children from accessing care.
An online portal, Hospital for Special Surgery noted that the Ponseti method is a systematic series of casting and orthotic bracing treatments that permanently and non-surgically corrects clubfoot in young children.
The statement by Amaraegbulam, also noted that the Nigeria Partners on Clubfoot Treatment consisting of the Straight Child Foundation, HANDS, and Positive Care and Development Foundation in collaboration with MiracleFeet is committed to ensuring that children with clubfoot can receive care locally.
“These three organisations in Nigeria operate clubfoot clinics in select states. To avail yourself of the free clubfoot treatment, kindly locate the clinic nearest to you in the state where you reside. The clinic schedules specific days for treatment, ensuring children receive the necessary care and support for clubfoot correction.
“We call on the government and health institutions to integrate free clubfoot into Nigeria’s health system to enable the treatment to be more accessible.
Philanthropists should also consider giving towards the cause of providing free treatment for the clients, especially the neglected older children,” the statement added.
