[VIDEO] Clubfoot Project

Clubfoot Project : https://www.crowdfund.mu/clubfoot-project-826.html

Who are we?

The Global Rainbow Foundation (GRF) is a charitable organization that works for people with disabilities, mainly in Mauritius and Rodrigues. It is led by Professor Armoogum Parsuramen GOSK, and was founded in November 2011, with a team of professionals who work on different aspects to empower people with disabilities, such as advocacy, direct impact projects, rehabilitation and training for employment.

ONG Step by Step, founded in August 2014, is an association that helps to screen and raise awareness for club foot, thus promoting access to care for children suffering from this congenital deformity. The professionals of the association are committed to this service and offer to share their experiences to help Mauritius and Rodrigues with the treatment of children with club foot.

GRF and ONG Step by Step have signed an MOU on 09th March 2019, whereby they undertake to respect their roles and responsibilities in this protocol. Their goal is to improve the health care of children with club foot in a way to ensure a better future for them, enabling a normal life and preserving their foot anatomy in a best way.

Thanks to our collaboration with the Dr P Ghurburrun Trust we have set up a club foot clinic in Petit Raffray.

What is our project for?

The project will involve children from 0 to 6 years old who are born with club foot deformity.

Clubfoot, also known as congenital talipes equinovarus, is a developmental deformity of the foot. It can be mild or severe and occur in one or both feet. However, if your child’s clubfoot is not treated, the foot will remain deformed, and he or she will not be able to walk normally.

The Ponseti method is the most widely used technique which uses gentle stretching and casting to gradually correct the deformity.

For older children, the method of casting is different. They keep their plaster for 2 weeks. As they are older and already started walking on the foot, the foot is stiffer and requires longer cast time to achieve improvement.

Children who are older usually face relapse; this is due to the fact that they have already been treated with several casts for long duration and undergone highly invasive surgeries but due to lack of adequate braces to maintain the correction, the correction achieved is not secured and hence the child has to undergo several more casts and major surgeries followed by physiotherapy sessions to ensure a proper rehabilitation. This process can take several months before the child is able to gain a proper walking pattern.

For more information, click on https://grftrust.org/clubfoot-a-malformation-that-can-be-treated-without-major-surgery/ or https://stepbystep-ngo.org

What will come of my donation?

The purpose of the donation will be to help cure more clubfoot children especially those who have financial problems as the cost of clinic and materials are high and the parents are unable to afford. The donations will also fund the materials used during the treatment process, and physiotherapy sessions that the children may need after major surgeries. A donation of Rs 10,000 will help for the tenotomy for 1 child or 20 physiotherapy sessions for 1 child.

Help us reach our target goal of Rs 150,000 to help 15 club foot children.

Any contribution is most welcome.