Training courses in Ethiopia for healthcare workers to treat older children with clubfoot

In September 2021 we ran two pilots of the new 1-day Management of Delayed Presenting Clubfoot course at CURE Ethiopia Children's Hospital. The teaching was delivered by surgeons and physiotherapists in Addis Ababa, with remote international faculty joining via online videoconferencing. The teaching included assessment and planning treatment, correction of the clubfoot deformity, applying plaster casts, surgical options, rehabilitation and team communication and planning family centred care. The course included practical sessions on assessment and planning treatment, and applying casts to older children with clubfoot. 

The teaching will be followed up with mentoring support to the course participants, and the feedback from the pilot course will inform the final revisions to the teaching materials of presentations, faculty and participant manuals, and teaching videos. With support from the Global Clubfoot Initiative, the training course will be available to healthcare workers, not only in Ethiopia, but also in other settings to where children have not been able to access clubfoot treatment as babies, and therefore need present later on with untreated clubfoot at walking age.

The training is part of the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) Africa Mother & Child Grants Programme, funded by Johnson & Johnson.

© Images courtesy of CURE Ethiopia Children's Hospital