External Evaluation Showcases Our Remarkable Impact
Driven by a desire to understand the long-term effects of our programs on the children and families we serve, MiracleFeet contracted impact measurement firm 60_decibels to evaluate outcomes and experiences of caregivers whose children have received gold-standard treatment for clubfoot through MiracleFeet programs in nine countries over the past five years (2019-2023). The mixed-method evaluation analyzed responses from phone interviews with 2,656 caregivers of patients who were treated by MiracleFeet’s partner clinics in India, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Philippines, Uganda, Tanzania, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Liberia, and an eleventh country kept confidential by agreement with the partner and Ministry of Health.
“His life has totally changed”
Caregiver in Bangladesh
The results were extremely positive. Overall, caregivers reported a strong positive impact on their child’s life after undergoing clubfoot treatment.
- 97% report that their child’s quality of life has improved
- 88% say their child can walk with little or no difficulty
- 85% report no challenges with treatment from MiracleFeet’s partners
The findings also revealed challenges families face in finding and completing treatment. The most frequently reported include long travel times and distances to find care, as well as the costs of transport. Drawing from these and other findings, we anticipate these issues and work closely with partners to address them within the specific context and circumstances. In many areas we are providing travel subsidies, transportation assistance or mobile services, and we continue to innovate in the support we offer to families during the treatment process.
Caregivers report strong satisfaction with treatment outcomes across all 11 countries over the five years of conducting these surveys suggesting that MiracleFeet’s model and the Ponseti method are both highly effective and inherently scalable.
“He’s a really smart kid. He dances all the time. His foot no longer limits him!”
Caregiver in Madagascar
MiracleFeet consistently strives to achieve the highest impact possible in alignment with our mission to end the disability caused by untreated clubfoot. This external review validates the impact providing high-quality clubfoot treatment has on children’s lives.
We plan to expand our external impact evaluation efforts and gather more detailed and specific data in future studies, especially in countries where we have worked for many years and have a broad set of patient experiences to pull from.
