Walk for Life Clubfoot in Bangladesh – 2nd decade and changes afoot!
A letter to our donors (10 May, 2019)
Thanks to our wonderful donors, supporters, and everyone involved, Walk for Life (WFL) has almost reached treatment provision for 25,000 children born with clubfoot deformity, since beginning in 2009.
Clearly, WFL has been successful, and has transformed the lives of thousands of little Bangladeshi children by enabling them to walk and be freed from otherwise certain lifetime disability. This is wonderful, and we could not have achieved these results without our donors – to whom, both large and small – we give our heartfelt thanks!
Times-they-are-a-changing in Bangladesh, as generally conditions have improved, to see a shift from low to middle income country status. On the ground, we have observed this improvement, and the once essential universal FREE treatment we have provided, is now affordable to many families.
Simultaneously, WFL is now ready to join with some larger projects, which have international funding and assured financial security, and with whom we can share our research outcomes and directions to ensure the best quality outcomes for affected children in many more parts of the world. (Globally, 90% of children born with clubfoot deformity live in low and middle income settings).
Given that WFL donor contributions have always funded children’s treatment (private NGO has funded local staff and infrastructure, international staff are volunteers), we feel it is time to thank you for supporting WFL through an enormously productive decade, and to let you know that we will be ceasing the donor portal from 1 July, 2019.
Our WFL clinics in Bangladesh will now become independently owned by our existing physiotherapists, to provide them with both ongoing employment, and the opportunity to develop and benefit from their own practices. WFL will maintain a central administrative base to ensure consistency of information, updates for clinicians, stock access, and brace production. WFL will also continue to provide FREE treatment for impoverished children and families, by reimbursing clinicians who provide their care.
We would love to keep you as WFL friends, and our Facebook page will continue with periodic information updates, as our second decade begins: https://www.facebook.com/walkforlifeclubfoot/
Thank you. Thank you from everyone at Walk for Life, and thank you from the thousands of grateful parents whose children’s lives have been transformed so positively by your generosity.
Angela Evans AM
WFL volunteer and research lead