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MediaJanuary 201125 January 2011IRIN - standing for Integrated Regional Information Networks - has its head office in Nairobi, Kenya, with regional desks in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Dakar, Dubai and Bangkok, covering some 70 countries. IRIN is an award-winning humanitarian news and analysis service covering the parts of the world often under-reported, misunderstood or ignored. Recently published article on Health: Clubfoot - no clear cause... by one of our consultants, Prof Steve Mannion. HEALTH: Clubfoot - no clear cause, but possibly a cure
DHAKA, 24 January 2011(IRIN) - Tens of thousands of babies worldwide are still born with clubfoot - feet turned inward at birth - despite a cost-effective, non-surgical treatment, say health experts. About 150,000 children are born every year with the deformity that, if left untreated, increases in severity and pain, leading to a life of stigma, isolation, disability and depression, said Canada-based Shafique Pirani. Named after its inventor, the Ponseti method means even people not trained as doctors can treat clubfoot through corrective foot manipulation and castings, followed by corrective shoe braces made by trained cobblers for as little as US$4. "It [clubfoot] stops children from following life's normal trajectory. In developing nations, children with neglected clubfoot face great practical difficulties and are often stigmatized. As a result, many do not attend school and cannot find work or a marriage partner," said Pirani. Clubfoot is the most common and serious birth defect of the muscular skeletal system, said Pirani. "It has been a scourge on civilization for thousands of years, but until the Ponseti technique began to be practised in the 1990s, the only cure was expensive, corrective surgery." Ignacio Ponseti of the University of Iowa developed the non-surgical intervention in 1963, but only decades later did his research catch on in the United States, Canada and the UK, said Pirani. Norgrove Penny, a senior adviser for physical impairment at the German NGO CBM International, said the treatment's success rate exceeded 90 percent in the developing countries the organization had studied. "This is a very effective method for preventing disability and major surgery in babies." Clubfoot prevalence is highest in the Polynesian Islands, where it occurs in seven out of 1,000 births, and is lowest among more homogenous Asian populations - 0.57 out of 1,000 births, according to a study by Tel Aviv University. "The reasons for the higher prevalence are uncertain - it could be a genetic influence," said Pirani. Extensive international research has not yet revealed a cause. BangladeshFor years after his birth, Arafat Faiaz's mother tried unsuccessfully to cure his clubfoot with regular oil massages. "Walking is painful and finding work is difficult," said Faiaz, now 35. When Faiaz's own baby was diagnosed with clubfoot, he attended a free Ponseti clinic in Dhaka offered by the Walk for Life Bangladesh Sustainable Foot Programme, established by Australia-based NGO, the Glencoe Foundation. The programme has treated more than 2,400 infants since it began in 2009 and aims to make the Ponseti method available to every club-footed infant in Bangladesh by the next decade. Colin McFarlane, founder of the Glencoe Foundation, told IRIN an estimated 5,000 babies are born with clubfoot each year in Bangladesh. Obstacles The lack of medical supplies such as plaster and braces remains an obstacle, said UK-based orthopaedic surgeon Steve Mannion, who has set up pilot clubfoot treatment programmes in Malawi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. Another is poor access to the treatment in rural areas. Mannion set up Malawi's first national clubfoot treatment programme in 2002. "The method was also very applicable to Africa, where orthopaedic surgeons are scarce - there were only three for the Malawian population of 12 million in 2000, and 40 for the whole East African population of 200 million. I saw the potential to eradicate the profound disability of neglected clubfoot deformity." However, Mannion said that the Ponseti method had only limited success in cases of "neglected" clubfoot - in children over the age of two - and that in less developed nations, these overlooked cases far outnumber those who receive early treatment. "The resulting disability is profound," he said. But, said Pirani, "I remain confident that we can become a clubfoot-free world in the next few decades." jm/pt/mw December 201012 December 2010Swinfen gets publicity for telemedicine in developing world - See article on page 31 in the Independent on Sunday dated 12 December 2010 It saves lives and money, and patients like it. So why isn't the NHS taking it up? By Nina Lakhani November 20102 November 2010“Telemedicine is still a big hope for getting healthcare to more remote areas. Claudia Hammond talks to Professor Maurice Mars in Cape Town, Victor Patterson in Belfast and Dr Val Stevenson in London.” BBC World service carries discussion on the subject. Follow the link to hear this and mention of Swinfen Charitable Trust by both Prof Maurice Mars and Mr Victor Patterson, SCT Consultants. Scroll to Chapter 2. April 201012 April 2010The Trust has been approached by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF)with a request to test a pilot version of the system in French, to extend this service even further to those most in need. Click here to see the joint press release. March 201012 March 2010“US publication Telemedicine and e-health on 12 March 2010 mentions Swinfen Telemedicine effort in Haiti See extract...” Universities of Virginia, Miami join in e-health medical effort for Haiti A partnership between the health systems at the University of Miami (UM) and the University of Virginia (UV) hopes to fill a gap between a need for medical specialists and their lack of availability following January’s massive earthquake in Haiti. According to Dr. Karen Rheuban, medical director of UV’s Office of Telemedicine and president of the American Telemedicine Association, the agreement allows specialists from both universities to remotely treat patients at the University of Miami Hospital in Port-au-Prince through the Swinfen Charitable Trust, an organization that connects physicians and their patients in poor or remote parts of the world with specialists who offer medical advice on specific cases. Dr. Anne E. Burdick, associate dean for telehealth and clinical outreach at UM’s Miller School of Medicine and longtime Swinfen consultant, added that finding alternative methods to transmit medical information has become crucial with the destruction of most of Haiti’s communications infrastructure due to the quake. Full Story 5th March 2010‘Swinfen Telemedicine is supporting University of Virginia and University of Miami in providing remote specialty care to Haitian earthquake victims though telemedicine’ download the announcement here or visit The Daily Progress article. March 2009A new book entitled “Telehealth in the Developing World” has been published by RSM Press. The details of the new book are at http://www.rsmpress.co.uk/bkwooton8.htm A chapter written by the Swinfens, Richard Wootton and Peter Brooks entitled "A low-cost international e-referral network" is included Lord CRISP says in the foreword “Who can fail to be impressed by the SWINFEN CHARITABLE TRUST and its journey? It has pioneered the use of the simplest of modern electronic technology to ensure that people working in isolation in poor countries can benefit from the opinions of specialists in the richest countries.” 12th March 2009‘Need a doc?’ Article in Gulf News...http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/03/12/10294092.html "No place is too remote or baffling for the telemedicine system that has helped doctors in Antarctica and solved unusual cases. In its 10th year of operation, the system, run by the UK-based Swinfen Charitable Trust (SCT), links up with the Oasis Hospital in Al Ain." By Carolina D'Souza January 2009Rosemary Cairns writes to tell us that she has included an article on the Swinfen Charitable Trust on her Hopebuilding Wiki. Rosemary says: "I just read about your amazing work, which is an inspiration to all, and wanted to let you know that I had put a story about the Swinfen Charitable Trust on Hopebuilding wiki.’’ Tom Munnecke discusses the Swinfens on his blog...http://munnecke.com/blog/?page_id=351 US Dept of defense Military Health System Blog www.health.mil/MHSBlog/Default.aspx?cat ID=10 Relevant item was posted on 23 July 2008 Iraqi Telemedicine Network http://iraqitn.org/node/39 |
