Niger’s first clubfoot symposium
Pastor Hassane presenting at the Symposium.
Earlier this year, CURE Clubfoot hosted the Niger’s first ever National Symposium on Clubfoot. It was held at the national stadium, and it was a great success. There were over 100 participants, and the event was well covered by the local media. The Symposium was officially opened by a representative of Niger’s First Lady (who is also a physician and surgeon), and many other professionals who work in the health sector were present. It was an opportunity for Brian Van Hall, our Executive Director, to share a bit about the CURE Clubfoot program, but also about the CURE hospital and CURE in general. Everyone present was invited to come and visit the hospital.
Brian Van Hall and Josh Korn
The Symposium was timed to coincide with the visit of Dr. Theuri, who is the Medical Director of the CURE hospital in Kijabe, Kenya. Dr. Theuri was one of three surgeons who came to Niger this summer to help cover for our Dr. Negrini while he was away on vacation, and we thought it made sense to have our clubfoot symposium during his stay, since he has played such a big role in the clubfoot program in Kenya.
We also had Professor Sunna, a Nigerien Orthopedist at the National Hospital (Lamordé) here in Niamey. He gave a lecture on clubfoot and the Ponseti method, and it was great to have his participation as well.
Dr. Mele Djalo, the representative of Niger’s First Lady, Dr. Malika Issoufou, Moutari Malam-Saddi CURE’s Clubfoot Coordinator, and Dr. Theuri.
One of the 10 Nigerien clubfoot clinics in the program is at Lamordé, and they do a great job. All of the 10 clinics were represented at the Symposium, and we were able to hear from the team from the clinic in Maradi, who has also been very successful at recruiting patients. They were able to share some of the lessons they have learned along the way. We also heard from Pastor Hassane, who serves as the Counselling Coordinator for the program, and who spoke about the importance of the counsellors, who serve as patient advocates and are able to advise the parents of the children and walk with them throughout the course of their treatment.
All the kids got CURE Clubfoot t-shirts.
Moutari Malam-Saddi, our national Clubfoot Coordinator did a great job organizing the Symposium, and helped moderate a lively discussion on the sustainability of the program and the future direction it needs to take. All were in agreement that the different actors in the health sector, and especially the Ministry of Public Health, need to be more involved in the program if we are to truly reach our goal of providing treatment for clubfoot to every child born with the disability. Some suggestions were to begin including the Ponseti method in the curriculum for all medical students and nurses, and to continue to train health care professionals on clubfoot treatment.
Overall it was very encouraging to see so many of Niger’s health care workers so involved in the discussion and dedicated to reaching the maximum number of patients through healing.
We also got to see a demonstration of the effectiveness of the treatment, as we watched a football match and race held with former patients of the program. It was amazing to see them run and exciting for them to have a chance to run on the grass at the national stadium. Who knows, maybe some of them will grow up to play for Niger’s national team!
Originally posted at https://joshjulieblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/first-national-clubfoot-symposium-of-niger/
