We are

Mobilizing Children for Life

Health care is a human right

2 million children

live with the pain and stigma of untreated clubfoot, a condition that affects at least 1 in 800 globally.

MiracleFeet is on a mission to create universal access to treatment for this leading cause of physical disability worldwide. We partner with local health workers and organizations to bring the low-cost solution to children who need it today and for generations. Treatment for one child costs only $500 on average.

88,004 lives transformed
371 clinics
34 countries
2021-11-04 - O_Castellanos 7Z5A0331
2022-09-05 - Tommy Trenchard DSC_9658
MiracleFeet Featured in BBC News
Every year 200,000 babies are born with clubfoot and, of the nearly 10 million people alive today who were born with it, as many as eight million have never received treatment. In late 2022, BBC reporters visited Senegal to hear directly from patients and families searching for clubfoot care. This article details the emotional stories they encountered as well as the passion they witnessed from MiracleFeet partners, providers, and ambassadors.
Transforming Futures: MiracleFeet’s 2023 Impact Report
83,072 children treated to date MiracleFeet has grown consistently since our inception, this year enrolling more children than ever before, initiating new programs in four countries, achieving the best quality results to date, and training health workers around the world. 2023 Highlights MiracleFeet is reaching more than 50% of children born with clubfoot within a year of birth in eight countries: Bangladesh, Liberia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe. We opened 77 new clubfoot clinics adding to our growing network of health facilities delivering services around the globe. We trained over 900 providers in the Ponseti Method. We started programs in four new countries: Guyana, Mexico, Pakistan, and Togo. Transformative change, and the hearts and hands behind it. Every three minutes a child with clubfoot is born. Only 1 in 5 will receive care without our work. Your Support Matters Every three minutes a child is born with clubfoot, yet sadly most do not receive the treatment they deserve. We have the power to change that. MiracleFeet believes that every child born with clubfoot should be able to run free. I know this is possible because I’ve met the heroes behind our work and witnessed first-hand the passion and dedication they bring to transforming young lives every day. The need is great, but with your support and our collective experience, proven model, and unwavering–and urgent–sense of purpose, together we can ensure that every child born with clubfoot receives the care they deserve. Thank you to our staff, board members, partners, parents, and to our donors who make this life-transforming work possible. Sincerely, Daphne de Souza Lima Sorensen, MiracleFeet CEO "I've watched MiracleFeet transform lives …and it’s thrilling.” Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times Donate
Cause for Celebration: Chinecherem’s Transformation 
Share: On a May morning, the rays of sunlight cast ambient shadows around Chinyere as she sits on a wooden bench on her balcony. In the open courtyard, her daughter, Chinecherem, unfastens school uniforms from the clothesline. A smile passes between them. Seven years ago, such a glance would not have elicited smiles and instead would have spurred sorrow for Chineyere. “I couldn’t bear to look at her condition,” Chineyere admits, remembering when Chinecherem was born with two curved feet. “It really made me ashamed.”  Cause for Celebration: Chinecherem’s Transformation Despite her best efforts to hide Chinecherem’s clubfoot, word spread, and with it hurtful rumours. Neighbours and guests, pretending interest in the baby, came to gawk at her strange little feet. They arrived with curiosity and left with new embellishments to add to the gossip. Word spread through the markets, shops, schools, offices, churches, bars, and eventually reached relatives and friends in far flung cities. “Some people openly said it was our dead ancestors, whose burial rites were not complete, reincarnated through her with these deformities,” recalls Chineyere. Another theory, discussed in whispers, was that Chineyere had passed the condition on to Chinecherem as Chinyere suffers from partial paralysis which affects her right hand and foot. As the rumours and gossip grew, Chinecherem’s parents searched tirelessly for a remedy. They visited bone-setters, herbalists, and pastors. They observed prayers and fasting, rubbed Chinecherem’s legs with olive oil, herbs, and ointments, but nothing improved her feet.  The family also sought remedies in medical facilities recommended by friends and families, including those that required long travels into distant cities and suburbs. Every three minutes a child is born with clubfoot. Fewer than 1 in 5 will receive care without our work to expand access to its $500 treatment. Help Today The constant searching and uncertainty impacted the family’s entire life. Schooling for Chinecherem and her three siblings was put on hold to offset the burden of Chinecherem’s medical bills. Despite all the travel, attempts at treatment, worry, sleepless nights, and heavy costs, nothing changed. Chinecherem’s father, Kalu, was exceedingly frustrated and disappointed. “I didn’t see any reason to continue making all that sacrifice and spending money without any results to show for it,” he recalls. “Instead of improving, it even worsened at one point.” In an attempt to shield their daughter from ridicule and curiosity, Kalu and Chineyere decided to limit Chinecherem to an indoor life. She would only be allowed to play inside their house, she was excused from outdoor errands, and only allowed outdoors at night under the cover of darkness. If the family attended outdoor events, Chinecherem would wear socks and wrap her feet in cloth. But as she grew, this routine became harder and harder to maintain. Chinecherem was agile and active and longed to run and play. One day she snuck out of her house, into the streets and onto a playground. When the children playing saw her curved feet and strange gait they abandoned their sandcastles and games and began to mock her. In the inevitable fight that ensued, Chinecherem was easily knocked to the ground before returning home crying to her mother who had watched the whole thing from a distance in tears. Treatment, At Long Last In 2019 when Chinecherem was 8 years old,  Chineyere saw a flyer advertising a solution for clubfoot. She called the phone number and was connected to Dr. Uche, a medical doctor at The Straight Child Foundation, a Nigerian NGO that partners with MiracleFeet to provide clubfoot treatment at no cost to families. He encouraged her to visit the clinic, which has treated more than 1,700 cases of clubfoot since it opened in 2009.     The next morning, both parents and their daughter, full of new exuberance, travelled to the clinic.  When they arrived, the family was ushered into a quiet yellow room furnished with office chairs and a desk where Dr. Uche provides counseling and assurances to distraught parents, while a nurse makes  notes on the progress of babies undergoing clubfoot treatment or the severity of new cases. “Many parents come with so much panic and fear.” comments Dr. Uche. “We have to give them hope. We have to calm them down, knowing the burden that clubfoot places on families. This is a job that requires a lot of empathy and kindness.” After completing some intake paperwork, the family was escorted to the second room – this one much louder and livelier with nursing mothers, crying babies, doctors casting tiny feet, and assistants fitting treated children for foot braces. Chinecherem, now 12 years old, presented a more complex case than had she been treated as a baby. Instead of the standard series of weekly casts generally used for infants and toddlers, her treatment took several years and also required surgery to set her feet into a perfect shape. Older clubfoot patients over the age of five usually require that the Ponseti treatment be complimented by such surgeries to further ease their tendons and ligaments that have grown stiff with age. Had Chinecherem’s parents been told where and how to treat her condition at birth, not only would her early childhood have been drastically different, but her clubfoot treatment would have been much simpler. A New Freedom Today, Chinecherem hops down stairs, runs, and dances, which delights her parents. More than delights–it marks the opening of a new phase in the family’s life. “It was a big celebration,” says Peter, smiling. The next morning, Peter drives Chinecherem and her siblings around Umueze Ibeku, on the outskirts of Umuahia, to visit their new school. The children were overjoyed and loved the open windows, rustic iron gate, and a garden wall surrounding the school house. In this remote school, Chinecherem has grown and matured. She’s an excellent student and admired by her peers. As she solves arithmetic questions on a hanging blackboard, she receives applause from her classmates and a special grin from her friends. Back home, both parents imagine a bright future for their daughter with a special hope that she will become a nurse. She loves the idea. However her future unfolds, her family’s revived happiness has come to stay. Where once there was shame and mockery, now there’s new admiration and hope. “Her healing was a surprise to many,” recalls Peter. “The day we reached home [with her treated feet] she was a marvel. Those who mocked us came back to celebrate her.” Your support this #GivingTuesday could radically change the trajectory of a young life affected by clubfoot. A $500 treatment ensures that children like Chinecherem can walk, run, attend school, play with friends, and revel in the childhood they deserve. A $500 treatment ensures children born with clubfoot are attending school, playing with friends, and pursuing their dreams. Donate More from MiracleFeet Wearing the MBA Hat: Propelling Access to Clubfoot Treatment Across Africa Cause for Celebration: Chinecherem’s Transformation  Transforming Futures: MiracleFeet’s 2023 Impact Report MiracleFeet and INSEAD: Business as a force for good 

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