Peru

About our work

An estimated 1.5 million people in Peru have a disability and, due to insufficient health insurance, lack of transportation, lack of protection of rights, and a lack of rehabilitation services and facilities, among other factors, face significant hurdles accessing timely quality care and treatment. Since 2010, the Child Orthopedics and Traumatology Service of the National Institute of Child Health has led the treatment of clubfoot and report that 85% of Peruvian patients have trouble accessing proper clubfoot care.

MiracleFeet and it’s partner’s work in Peru begins with hospital clinics in the capital city of Lima – a hub of the largest concentration of the country’s population and a strategic starting point for advocacy with the Ministry of Health in order to create an expansion strategy for the rest of the county. Clinics that practice the Ponseti Method are currently few and unequipped to cover the need. Dr. Julio Segura, a Ponseti Method champion doctor and the MiracleFeet program medical advisor, developed a guide for the treatment of clubfoot cases in 2012 and is now implementing training and mentoring to a network of doctors interested in the learning the Ponseti Method.

Partners

Center for the Empowerment of People with Disabilities (CEMPDIS) in Lima is a civil association of people with disabilities and relatives of children with disabilities, which takes as its pillars the fundamental principles developed by the movement for the rights of people with disabilities in the world. CEMPDIS contributes to the development of an inclusive culture, which guarantees social, cultural, economic, political and educational conditions for the inclusion of people with disabilities; promoting their leading participation and the full exercise of their citizen rights. The CEMPDIS partnership supports early detection and referral trainings with community leaders and health centers, education for parents, and strengthening the alliance with the Ministry of Health and the local government of Lima for advocacy campaigns and public policy incorporation in addition to healthcare provider trainings and establishing new clinics throughout the country.

MiracleFeet anticipates that we can reach 34% of Peru’s annual clubfoot population by 2024. INSN has recorded that 85% of its patients are from other regions of the country, and therefore MiracleFeet’s 3-year expansion strategy in Peru involves increasing access to clubfoot care through the establishment of 6 clinics throughout the country. Sustainability efforts are also underway in the form of academic integration involving medical schools so that students learn about clubfoot treatment and can volunteer to teach community health centers about early detection for treatment, as well as public policy advocacy to incorporate clubfoot treatment into the national health system.