MCP Changes live of 539 Children born with Clubfoot
The Mozambique Clubfoot Program -MCP, was established in the country in 2013, as a partnership between CURE International, the Ministry of Health and MIHER with the following main objectives: (1) create conditions in health facilities for effective treatment, accessible and appropriate for all children born with Clubfoot; (2) provide training for health professionals and community health workers so that cases of Clubfoot in young children, are identified and treated appropriately, with a vision of eliminating Clubfoot as a cause of permanent disability in Mozambique. Clubfoot is one of the most common congenital physical disabilities worldwide, known to occur in 1-3 of every 1,000 births worldwide with evidence of higher rates in developing nations. For the vast majority of cases there is no known cause, although genetic and environmental causes appear to be linked.
To achieve the objectives set for this program, 18 health professionals were trained and 6 community counselors which respectively guarantee the treatment of Clubfoot and awareness of mothers who go to hospitals. The treatment of Clubfoot by Ponsetti method is done in this first phase of the Program in the provincials hospitals of Tete, Quelimane and Pemba and in Centrals Hospitals of Maputo, Beira and Nampula, benefiting 539 children aged 0 to 2 years.
Carlos Funzamo, Coordinator of Mozambique Clubfoot Program – MCP, who spoke on the sidelines of the presentation of the annual activity report, said adhesion levels and the impact of the Program in communities are encouraging, leading to project the extension to the remaining provincial capitals and districts with acceptable basic conditions. He said that it seems pertinent that other players in the National Health System, such as the Department of Health of Women and Child and Health Promotion, NGOs community-based, are involved, with the vision to spreed information on the availability of the clubfoot treatment referenced in health facilities.
Esta publicação também está disponível em: Portuguese
