Clubfoot high in Malawi

About 1,200 children are born with Clubfoot every year in Malawi and that there was need to decentralise treatment to eradicate the problem, the country’s national clubfoot official said Thursday.

Project coordinator Harris Sakala speaking in the Southern African country’s commercial city of Blantyre on the sidelines of a three day training workshop for clinicians and rehabilitation assistants among others said out of 1,200 children born with the deformity, only 200 cases received treatment every year.

Sakala told the local daily of the Daily Times that treatment of Clubfoot started in the country only in the year 2000 and that Beit Cure International Hospital has been the only facility offering such treatment.

The coordinator said research was going on to establish the cause of Clubfoot with arguments life that it is caused by genetic problems and malnutrition.

Clubfoot, a birth defect where the foot is twisted in and the affected walk almost on their ankles, is treated by repositioning the foot.

After two to four months when the foot is in good position, the child is given special shoes to wear for sometime to make sure the feet stay corrected.