Invitation
With warm regards,
Karen Mara Moss
Welcome from Karen Moss, Founder and Executive Director of Steps Clubfoot Care
Clubfoot treatment has been close to my heart and a personal mission for over 16 years. I introduced the Ponseti method for clubfoot treatment to South Africa in 2003 after my son’s successful treatment by Dr Ignaçio Ponseti in Iowa USA. After convincing some local paediatric orthopaedic surgeons to change their method of clubfoot treatment from invasive and complex surgery to the highly effective Ponseti method, we established the non-profit organisation Steps in South Africa to gain national consensus for the method. We held highly successful Ponseti clubfoot seminars in 2006 and 2007 at Donald Gordon Hospital and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, and Ponseti clubfoot clinics were established in main centres.
South Africa is a regional leader in clubfoot treatment and the Ponseti Method. In 2011, five years after the first Ponseti training in Johannesburg, the South African Paediatric Orthopaedic Society (SAPOS) endorsed the Ponseti Method as best practice for clubfoot management. Our Steps Clubfoot Care programme launched in 2013 works closely with SAPOS to build capacity for clubfoot treatment in clinics nationally and provide training for medical professionals. We also introduced the Ponseti method to Namibia, Botswana, and the Seychelles, and collaborate with other clubfoot organisations working in southern and east Africa. Steps Clubfoot Care operates nationally and regionally, supporting 38 active partner clinics in South Africa.
It is my great honour to present the first international clubfoot conference on African soil. It’s been many years in the making and we’re proud and pleased that it is finally happening. I look forward to hosting you at the inaugural conference in Cape Town, with the intention that this will be a biennial event that can be repeated all over Africa – so that together we can spread the message the clubfoot can be successfully treated.
Clubfoot Africa Conference: Moulding the future
Dear colleagues,
It is my privilege to invite you to the first Clubfoot Conference in Africa!
The conference is aptly themed: “moulding the future”. Many of us have struggled to maintain our clubfoot clinics during the Covid waves and have seen an increase in relapse due to follow-up and brace adherence. These problems will add to the challenge we face in helping children with clubfoot, the most common congenital musculoskeletal abnormality.
As the pace starts picking up and so many activities are competing for our valuable time and attention, we have to choose where to invest our energy best. The Ponseti method is highly effective, and the impact of successfully treating a child with clubfoot cannot be measured. Everyone who currently is, or who is considering getting involved, should not miss the opportunity to attend this conference — specifically all physiotherapists, nursing staff, medical doctors, and orthopaedic surgeons involved in clubfoot care. Your in-person attendance and participation will be the driving force for continued improvement in Clubfoot care in Africa.
A phenomenal faculty of local and international speakers will present talks, participate in panel discussions, and host demonstrations. The themes are aimed at addressing the challenges and solutions faced in providing effective Clubfoot care in resource-limited settings, treating clubfoot in the older child, and new innovations and technology in the treatment of clubfoot.
Please join us in Cape Town on the 21-22 November 2022 for the conference and on Wednesday the 23rd for the post-conference workshop. We are looking forward to strengthening and building new ties, collaborating, and encouraging each other in our common goal. If there is one thing Covid has taught us, it is that the world is a village!
