Our first project aims
to raise money to help Brazilian children born with clubfoot. This has
been proposed by Dr. Monica Paschoal Nogueira, MD, a paediatric
orthopaedic surgeon, based in Sao Paulo. She specialises in congenital
defects and needs to raise £30,000 for a two year project whereby she
wants to train 20-30 Brazilian orthopaedic surgeons, covering every
region in the country, the Ponseti technique of treating clubfoot.
In Brazil, around 7300
Brazilian children are born with clubfoot every year. Neglected clubfoot
causes crushing physical, social, psychological and financial burdens on
the patients, their families and society.
Clubfoot in an
otherwise normal child can be corrected in 2 months or less with the
Ponseti method of manipulations and plaster cast applications, with
minimal or no surgery. The technique is easy to learn but requires
correct training and attention to detail. A well organised health
system is needed to ensure that parents follow the instructions for use
of the foot abduction brace to prevent relapses.
Medical education
projects with the Ponseti technique represent the most efficient way to
reduce the incidence of neglected clubfoot and correct the deformities
in newborn babies. The Brazilian Paediatric Orthopaedic Society aims to
offer Ponseti clubfoot treatment to every state in Brazil, to reach the
child in the most remote village, away from the large cities. To do
this, the society will train orthopaedic surgeons from each regional
orthopaedic society.
With just £31,700 three
orthopaedic surgeons will run a 2 day training programme, one weekend
per month, which will cover in total 20 Brazilian cities over a 2 year
period. The funding will cover the costs of textbooks about the Ponseti
technique, clubfoot plastic models to teach the manipulation techniques
and flights and accommodation for the teaching surgeons.
Desired final outcome:
every Brazilian child born with clubfoot should have access to a trained
orthopaedic surgeon who will be able to treat them with the Ponseti
technique which has a 94% success rate. This project will make a huge
difference to the lives of thousands of children and families throughout
Brazil.
