World Clubfoot Day
World Clubfoot Day celebrations happened on around the world on June 3rd, and there is reason to celebrate.
- More children have access to care today than ever before.
- We have amazing co-workers working tirelessly to see that all children in their towns and villages have access to care, and that they stick with the treatment until the kids are running without disability to school.
- We have incredible moms and dads who journey great distances to see that their children run free from the disability of clubfoot.
For those, June 3rd was a celebration—a celebration of hope and a future free from disability.
The joy of finding a CURE: Sammy’s family thought that clubfoot could not be corrected until they found themselves in a CURE clubfoot clinic.
But for hundreds of thousands of children and their families, clubfoot has caused little reason to celebrate. Although we have made strides, we know we are reaching a small portion of the more than 174,000 children born with clubfoot each year around the world. Too many children still don’t have access to trained providers, simple casting materials, and a brace. They face a future of stigma and shame.
A man with untreated clubfoot in India
World Clubfoot Day 2017 was a call to action. A call to see a world where every child who has been born with clubfoot has access to quality care and can run free from disability. We have a plan, and we are executing that plan in 18 countries where CURE has access to 50,000 children born every year with clubfoot. That is a third of the world’s population of children born with this disability. With your help, we can see an end to this disability. We can see a future where people know clubfoot can be treated and where treatment is accessed early and effectively.
I want to thank our co-workers around the world, our healthcare providers who serve and cast for what is often hours every week, and our clubfoot families—moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, neighbors—who travel great distances, care for casts, and put on and take off braces. They are the true champions, and forever their children will be grateful for the sacrifice they made so they could have an amazing and unbridled future free from disability.
