Ponseti training in the South Pacific on March 8th

[Guest guest]

For some unknown genetic reason, clubfoot affects the children of the

South Pacific Islands for about 1 in 150 births, a rate 6 times higher

than that of Caucasians and the highest rate of occurrence in the

world. This rate of incidence means that there are about 500

Polynesian children born per year with clubfoot and 200-400 plus

children in Papua New Guinea, but they are scattered among many island

groups in the South Pacific.

On Wednesday, March 8th, 2006; a Ponseti method training program will

be presented at the Pacific Islands Surgeons Association Conference in

association with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. The

meeting will be held at the Fiji Medical Center in Suva, Fiji as a

part of a week long medical conference. Doctors will be there from

Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and other major

island groups.

The Ponseti method in the South Pacific is currently available in

Auckland, New Zealand from Dr. Haemish Crawford of the Starship

Children's Hospital and at the Honolulu Shriners Children's Hospital

in Hawaii from Dr. Nemechek and others. Dr. Haemish Crawford

and Dr. Shafique Pirani will be providing most of the training at the

meeting. Dr. Crawford was at the U of Iowa for a year fellowship in

1999 and Dr. Pirani is one of the founders of the Uganda Clubfoot

Project.

We are hopeful that Ponseti method trained doctors and clinicians can

be available in each of the major island groups.

Haemish Crawford, M.D.

Starship Children's Hospital

Private Bag 92024

Auckland, New Zealand

Tel: 09-379-7440

Email: hacrawford@... or

hcrawford@...

Shafique Pirani, M.D.

205-245 East Columbia Street

New Westminster

British Columbia, Canada V3L 3W4

Tel:

Fax:

piras@...

I will be attending the meeting and will report back to you in a

couple of weeks.

and (3-17-99)

http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/medicaldepartments/orthopaedics/club

feet/egbert.html

The following are the estimated number of children affected with

clubfoot each year by island.

Australia 241

New Zealand 129 – approx. 80 who are Polynesian children

Papua New Guinea 200-400 plus

Solomon Islands 88

Fiji 49

Samoa 31

American Samoa 14

Tonga 15

French Polynesia 29

Vanatua 43

Guam 27

New Caledonia 28

Federated States 11

Marshall Islands 5

Palua 2

Siapan, Tinan, N.Marina 3

Balance of Islands 86