- Born With Twisted Feet, Given a Chance to Walk: Ghana’s Quiet Clubfoot Miracle
Somewhere in Ghana today, a baby has been born with feet turned inward and downward.
Her mother may not know the name of the condition. Her grandmother may say the child will grow out of it. A neighbour may suggest a traditional remedy. Others may whisper that it is a curse, punishment or something shameful. But none of that is true.
The child has clubfoot a medical condition present at birth, treatable when identified early, and for children under five in Ghana, treatment is completely free through the Ghana Clubfoot Program implemented by the Christian Health Association of Ghana in partnership with Hope Walks.
The challenge is not that treatment does not exist. It does. The deeper problem is that too many families still do not know where to find it, and by the time some children reach a clinic, precious years have already been lost.
According to the Ghana Clubfoot Program, about 1,000 babies are born with clubfoot in Ghana every year roughly three children every day. Since 2008, more than 9,000 children have been treated under the programme, giving them the chance to walk, run, attend school and grow up without a preventable disability.
“Clubfoot is treatable. The treatment works. And for children under five, it is completely free,” the programme said in a World Clubfoot Day feature authored by Nana Afua Adutwumwaa Adjetey, Program Manager of the Ghana Clubfoot Program.
The condition is one of the most common congenital birth defects, affecting roughly one in every 1,000 births. One or both feet are turned inward and downward. If left untreated, the child may struggle to walk, face difficulty attending school, suffer stigma and later be excluded from employment and community life.
Yet, with early care, the outcome can be dramatically different.
The treatment used is the internationally recognised Ponseti technique, which involves a series of gentle casts that gradually reshape the foot, followed by bracing to maintain correction and prevent relapse. In most cases, it does not require major surgery. When started early, the success rate is high.
But across Ghana, the programme says, many children still arrive late.
“The mothers who travel for miles, and the children who arrive too late” are a familiar sight at clubfoot clinics, the feature notes. Some parents only hear about treatment from a friend at church, a Facebook post, a radio programme or after moving from one health facility to another without proper referral.
“We meet caregivers who have spent months searching for answers. We meet children who arrive years after birth because no one identified the condition early enough. Many parents tell us they were never referred. Others say they were unaware that clubfoot could be treated at all,” the programme said.
For the Ghana Clubfoot Program, these are not stories of parental failure. They are stories of families who were not reached early enough with the right information.
“She did not fail her child. She simply did not know,” the feature says.
That sentence captures the heart of Ghana’s clubfoot challenge. The country has treatment centres. It has trained personnel. It has a proven method. It has recorded more than 9,000 success stories. But ignorance, stigma and weak early referral still stand between many newborns and the care they need. The human cost of delay is severe.
When a child with clubfoot is not treated early, walking becomes difficult. School can become a struggle. Social participation narrows. Employment prospects shrink. A condition that could have been corrected in weeks can become a lifelong disability.
“Behind every number is a story. A child who can now run with friends. A student who can walk to school. A parent whose fears have been replaced with hope. A family whose future has been transformed,” the programme said.
But those stories are still competing against harmful myths.
In some communities, children born with clubfoot are wrongly viewed as cursed. In others, the condition is interpreted as punishment for a parent’s wrongdoing. Mothers are sometimes blamed. Families hide their children. Silence replaces early treatment.
The Ghana Clubfoot Program says those misconceptions must end.
“Clubfoot is a medical condition. It develops before birth, for reasons that are not fully understood, and has nothing to do with what a parent did or did not do. It is not a curse. It is not a sin. It is not a punishment,” the feature states.
The message is simple but urgent: every week of stigma is a week of treatment lost. Every month of silence makes correction harder.
This World Clubfoot Day, the programme is therefore calling not for sympathy, but for action.
It is calling on midwives, nurses, doctors and community health workers to examine every newborn’s feet and make immediate referrals where clubfoot is suspected. A few moments of observation at birth could prevent a lifetime of avoidable disability.
It is calling on parents and caregivers not to wait, not to rely only on traditional remedies, and not to suffer in silence when they notice that a child’s feet are turned inward or downward.
It is calling on pastors, imams, chiefs, traditional leaders and community influencers to speak openly and help families understand that clubfoot is treatable and that free treatment is available.
And it is calling on the media to use its voice to educate the public, because one story, one interview, one radio discussion or one community announcement could connect a child to life-changing care.
For Ghana, this is not only a health issue. It is a child protection issue. It is an education issue. It is a disability prevention issue. It is also a test of how well the country can connect vulnerable families to simple, proven and affordable health solutions.
The Ghana Clubfoot Program has already shown what is possible. More than 9,000 children have been treated since 2008. But the next challenge is even more urgent: ensuring that the next 1,000 babies born with clubfoot this year are not left behind simply because their families did not know help was available.
“The solution exists. The treatment works. The opportunity is before us. The responsibility now belongs to all of us,” the programme said.
In the end, the story of clubfoot in Ghana is not only about twisted feet.
It is about information reaching a mother early enough. It is about a midwife noticing at birth. It is about a community refusing to shame a child. It is about a health system making the right referral. It is about a family discovering that what looked like a lifelong tragedy can become a story of walking, running and hope.
More than 9,000 children have already made that journey.
The question now is whether Ghana will help the next child take the first step.
