Building capacities:

Health officials upgrade skills in Clubfoot management

By Njodzefe Nestor

Participants at the training workshop

The Cameroon Clubfoot Care Project (CCCP) which is one of the largest providers of clubfoot care in Cameroon has trained some 50 nurses and physiotherapists from 20 health facilities in the North West, South West, West, Center and Littoral regions of Cameroon on the most effective and appropriate treatments for clubfoot.

                From the 3rd to the 4th of May, 2016, at the CBC Head Office in Nkwen, the health personnel received training on the “Ponseti Technique” of treating clubfoot universally accepted by medical experts as not only the most safe, effective and minimally invasive technique but also less expensive.

                Clubfoot is a foot deformity in which a child is born with feet twisted inwards and is one of the most common physical disabilities affecting children in many African countries including Cameroon.

                According to Dr. Henry Ndasi, an Orthopedic Surgeon and one of the facilitators at the training workshop, clubfoot can be treated and needs to be treated immediately the child is given birth to.

                He said the correction of the clubfoot does not necessarily need specialist but nurses and physiotherapist that need just a little training to do it.

                The Cameroon Clubfoot Care Project (CCCP) is a CBC Health Services initiative funded by Christian Blind Mission, Germany which started with the pilot phase that ran from January 2014. The project is aimed at providing care and treatment to children born with clubfeet deformity in Cameroon.

                Four specialized clinics, three in the North West and one in the South West regions participated in the pilot phase and provided quality treatment of clubfoot to 242 children.

                The second phase of the project which started in January 2016 according to the Project Manager Mr. Awa Jacques Chirac is extending services to the Far North, Center and Littoral regions to make a total of 6 regions.

He added that specialized clinics of treatment will also be increased from 4 to 20 with a minimum of 2 clinics per region. The clinics involved include government health facilities, facilities of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Services and other religious health institutions where there exist physiotherapy and casts technicians. 

                Talking to journalist as to the reason for the need of the second phase, the Project Manager of Cameroon Clubfoot Care Project (CCCP), Mr. Awa Jacques Chirac said they were motivated by the high prevalence rate of clubfoot cases in Cameroon.

                “In the course of the pilot phase of the project we had 245 children who received treatment. We did further data analysis and identified key regions from where these children came from. And in this second phase which is intended to scale up, we have extended the project to the Far North, West, Littoral and Center regions in addition to the South West and Region. So basically it is based highest prevalence of deformity that showed up in pilot facilities in 2014 and 2015”  Mr. Awa Jacques Chirac observed.

                Reacting to questions from journalist as to whether the project will be extended to many other regions subsequently, Mr. Awa Jacques Chirac promised that after the second phase more regions will benefit especially with the growing number of cases of clubfoot which he estimated at over 1000 each year.