In Bangladesh an estimated 5,000 children a year are born with clubfoot deformity. Access to standard of care treatment using the Ponseti Method is limited. Neglected clubfoot causes disability, limits educational and earning opportunities, and is a major cause of the developmental challenges of ill health and poverty. Ponseti clubfoot treatment (serial casting, Achilles tenotomy – minor outpatient surgery under local anaesthesia – and bracing) has high efficacy in correcting the deformity. The World Health Organization (WHO) World Report on Disability (2011) states that clubfoot detection and Ponseti treatment can quickly be incorporated into settings with few resources.
The ultimate outcome of SCCB is to eliminate the neglected clubfoot as a significant cause of musculoskeletal disability and poverty in Bangladesh by returning children born with clubfeet to the same life-course trajectory as their peers, thereby also improving the status of women (by reducing the burden of care of the disabled child, improving marriage potential and reducing potential for abuse of afflicted children.)
Sustainable Clubfoot Care in Bangladesh (SCCB) is a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded partnership between the University of British Columbia (UBC) and BRAC. It will work with local stakeholders and collaborating organizations, including Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), National Institute for Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) and Bangladesh Orthopedic Society (BOS).
SCCB will use a ‘train the trainers’ model to build capacity within Bangladesh’s healthcare and higher educational systems for Ponseti clubfoot treatment and training, thereby increasing access to sustainable, universal, safe, effective and efficient clubfoot treatment, socially and economically suitable within Bangladesh’s cultural, geographic, and population context.
Project objectives are:
• To build capacity and integrate Ponseti clubfoot treatment within the Bangladesh healthcare system (trained staff, network of clubfoot clinics, treatment integrated within primary care) thereby enabling access to treatment for all children born with clubfoot;
• To strengthen capacities of Bangladesh’s medical, paramedical, and nursing schools to impart skill and knowledge to Bangladesh’s future healthcare workforce in Ponseti clubfoot management, in a manner suitable for Bangladesh’s social, cultural, and economic context;
• To perform evaluations designed to assure quality of Ponseti Method treatment and teaching in Bangladesh, and improve effectiveness of the treatment by reducing non-adherence.
By the end of the project:
• The deformity should be routinely recognized and the affected children referred to recognized clubfoot clinics staffed with healthcare workers trained in the Ponseti Method;
• Treatment should result in the clubfoot being fully corrected without undue complications;
• Evaluation will be performed to ensure treated children have functional feet as measured against their peers;
• Barriers to clubfoot recognition and treatment will be identified and reduced, and effectiveness of teaching about Ponseti clubfoot treatment will be assured;
• Sustainability is the goal.
Below is a link to a Youtube video entitled "Clubfoot Treatment with Ponseti Method":
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For more information on the Ponseti Method, you may wish to visit the Ponseti International Association website:
[Login to view URL]- Health professionals, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and community health workers
- Health administrators and government officials
- Parents of children born with clubfoot
- The general public in Bangladesh
Below are some of the ideas/concepts that we would like incorporated into the logo:
- colours of the Bangladesh flag
- silhouette of healthy walking/running child
- function, and freedom from pain
- movement
- happy children
- smiles
- running, playing, jumping
- map of Bangladesh
(Web) (Print Media)
