  
Pediatrics Physiotherapist Denise Watson traveled to Bangladesh in February to run a Ponseti training workshop at the annual Bangladesh Orthopedic Surgery Conference in Dhaka. Sponsored by the charity, Walk for Life, this was Denise’s second trip to Bangladesh to share her skills in the Ponseti method-a non-surgical approach to clubfoot treatment that requires specific training. Denise ran the training workshop with Professor Shafique Pirani from Vancouver and since the conference, there have been five Ponseti clinics established in Dhaka which now run each week. Denise said: “Every year at least 5,000 children in Bangladesh are born with clubfoot. Left untreated these children have severely limited mobility and the disability results in reduced opportunity for education and employment. "They become a burden to their families and the community and it is estimated that there are about 50,000 existing neglected clubfoot sufferers in Bangladesh. "Clubfoot can be treated simply and cheaply using the Ponseti method and the cost of treatment for one child is only $100 in Bangladesh. " I first visited Bangladesh in October 2009 to teach Ponseti treatment in Jessore and Khulna and these centers now run three clinics a week, each treating 30-50 children per clinic."
|