Humanity & Inclusion is marking World Clubfoot Day on June 3 by highlighting the importance of early treatment. Providing care for clubfoot in the weeks immediately after a child’s birth can prevent them from growing up with a disability.

Clubfoot is the malformation of one or both feet and is visible at birth. If left untreated the foot never regains its normal position, with serious consequences for the child. They can never wear shoes, risk injury, and find it difficult to walk, especially over long distances. Because the child cannot take part in activities with other children, they also risk being excluded and stigmatized. 

“We can prevent this bleak outcome," says Uta Prehl, one of Humanity & Inclusion’s rehabilitation specialists. “But we must detect this malformation as soon as possible after birth. It’s one of the keys to successful treatment. The child can then be treated effectively, and the malformation corrected, and within months they can walk normally. Social workers also play an important role in the care cycle by working with parents to ensure they continue the treatment. If children are not followed up correctly and regularly, the malformation may not be properly corrected. So, it’s crucial to give caregivers as much information as possible.”

Treatment involves placing a cast—which is replaced every week for six weeks—on the child’s leg to steadily correct the foot. The tendons are sometimes operated on before the final cast. Humanity & Inclusion’s partner organizations then fit the child with an orthopedic brace made of a bar connecting two small shoes, which is worn for the first four months and regularly adjusted to appropriately correct the malformation. The child’s feet are checked until they are able to walk, and an X-ray is performed to check healing. The brace and shoes are normally removed between the ages of 3 and 4. The child continues to attend regularly follow-up consultations until they stop growing to prevent the malformation from returning.

For several years, Humanity & Inclusion has trained physical therapists in a number of countries to promote the early detection and appropriate care management of clubfoot. Teams continue to run these projects today, particularly in Burkina Faso and Sri Lanka, so children born with these malformations grow up without disabilities. 

Image: An adult's hands hold the out-turned feet of a small child in Cambodia who has clubfoot. Copyright: Lucas Veuve/HI

As part of its response to the COVID-19 crisis in Sri Lanka, Humanity & Inclusion has provided financial assistance to some of the country’s most vulnerable families, allowing them to meet their basic needs such as buying food. 

Sri Lanka has been seriously affected by COVID-19 and the lockdown imposed by the authorities to limit the spread of the virus. This has severely disrupted the livelihoods of many households with disastrous consequences for the poorest families, including women with disabilities, who already live in precarious conditions.

We’ve provided financial support to more than 1,000 vulnerable families. Logini Niksankumar, 36, was one of the women assisted financially by Humanity & Inclusion. Logini lives in Jaffna with her husband and two children. Her arm was injured in a bomb attack in 1995 during the country’s civil war. The wound was not properly treated and she had to have part of her arm amputated. The lockdown had a serious impact on her business, and she found Humanity & Inclusion’s support extremely helpful.

“It has been a tough few months and Humanity & Inclusion’s assistance was a big help,” says Logini. “One of the things we could buy was food.”

Working in partnership with local Sri Lankan organizations, Humanity & Inclusion’s team supported a project in northern Sri Lanka that aims to help the most vulnerable people, including women with disabilities, meet their basic needs, such as buying food and paying the rent.

Focus on the most vulnerable 

As COVID-19 takes aim at our planet's most vulnerable neighbors, Humanity & Inclusion donors ensure that people with disabilities, people with injuries from conflict, children, women, and especially older people have the information--and even the soap--they need to stay healthy. Learn more about Humanity & Inclusion's vast COVID-19 response.

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For farmers living in small villages in Sri Lanka, income from milk sales alone isn't always enough to get by. Add a cow to milk, peanuts to grow, and a local store to run and it may seem impossible.

For people with disabilities and vulnerable individuals, the challenge is greater. People with disabilities are struggle to find decent work due to discrimination. Humanity & Inclusion’s team is working hard to change this.  

In collaboration with a local partner, Humanity & Inclusion’s team in Sri Lanka runs an economic inclusion project that aims to ensure that everyone benefits from economic growth. We promote the inclusion of vulnerable individuals in economic activities and coordinate training sessions for employers who are encouraged to take into account the most vulnerable individuals when hiring.

As a result, nearly one hundred women have been hired by companies including Brandix, the country’s largest exporter of apparel. We educated 30 civil society organizations on the struggles faced by people with disabilities and showed them how they can support the growth of employment opportunities for these individuals.

Building on this project, which is funded by the European Union, Humanity & Inclusion produced a publication on the inclusive local economy, including best practices, and recommendations for local authorities and NGOs. For more information, read the development toolkit. 

Humanity & Inclusion in Sri Lanka

Since 2004, Humanity & Inclusion has been providing assistance to victims of armed conflict, promoting social inclusion, and developing partnerships at all levels to implement and support national disability policies in the country. Learn more about our work in Sri Lanka.

The civil war[1] that raged in Sri Lanka for more than 20 years resulted in the deaths of more than 70,000 people and the disappearance of thousands more. Today, nine years after the end of the conflict, a process of national reconciliation is under way in the country. Humanity & Inclusion is working to ensure that women, especially women with disabilities, are involved in the country’s reconciliation process.

Thanks to support from the US Department of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, our teams identified self-help groups, local women's organizations, and community leaders in the northern regions of Kilinochchi and Kandy. From 2015-2017, HI staff provided them with information on inclusion and disability issues to help ensure that they represent their members, as well as influence decisions made as part of the reconciliation process.

The goal is to make their daily activities (micro-credit and self-help groups) more inclusive of people with disabilities, especially women, and to ensure that those individuals take part in national round-table discussions with local authorities responsible for this process. The organizations our teams identified have also made recommendations on ensuring that public policies take greater account of the needs of women, especially those with disabilities.

A huge thanks to the US Department of State for funding this important work.

Our work in Sri Lanka

Working in Sri Lanka since 2004, our teams provide assistance to victims of armed conflict, promote social inclusion, and help develop partnerships at all levels to implement and support national disability policies. Learn more about our work in Sri Lanka.

The civil war in Sri Lanka (1983 to 2009) was fought between the Sri Lankan government dominated by the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Note: The team in Sri Lanka has not yet shared an image from the current floods. This is a stock image from June 2016 flooding  in the country.

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, Handicap International worked to help vulnerable Indonesians, Sri Lankans and Indians affected by the large-scale disaster. Ten years later, the organization continues its work there, and has considerably developed its disaster risk management experience.

Donate to give a prosthesis to a child in need.

Humanity & Inclusion in Sri Lanka 

Humanity & Inclusion implemented its first project in Sri Lanka in 1992, focusing on training rehabilitation professionals in Colombo and Jaffna. Today our mission has expand to include numerous humanitarian services. 

The predicament of people with disabilities within Sri Lanka has been exacerbated by three decades of armed conflict and natural disasters. Following the Tsunami in 2004, Sri Lanka suffered extensive damage, both physically and socially.

Areas of Intervention

• Inclusive employment
• Social inclusion
• Disaster risk reduction
• Fighting discrimination against people with disabilities and supporting disability rights organizations
• Physical rehabilitation, prosthetics and orthotics

Humanity & Inclusion's 44-person team provides support to people with disabilities, aging people and other individuals through inclusive employment and community social inclusion projects. Staff also train civil society organizations to provide job opportunities for people with disabilities.

As part of the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka, teams promote the participation in society of women, particularly women with disabilities, including by organizing training on women’s rights, equality and reconciliation, to help them build peace in their communities and feel more integrated.

Humanity & Inclusion also provides rehabilitation care to children born with clubfoot. In addition, the organization raises community awareness of this issue and enhances the early detection of disability in infants and children.

Our Past Work

Humanity & Inclusion has been operating in Sri Lanka to foster a culture of dignity, access, and inclusion for ALL people with disabilities and who are vulnerable. Over time, we have evolved our work to meet the dynamic needs of the communities where we serve. 

Read on to learn more about our past work in Sri Lanka and consider investing in our future.

Sports for All

In collaboration with the local government in Vavuniya, this project enabled children and youth with disabilities to play inclusive sports and participate in activities with their non-disabled peers. 

The project also increased disability awareness among community leaders, sports clubs, schools, business and organizations for people with disabilities (OPDs or DPOs).

Steve Harknett, Project Manager for Humanity & Inclusion in Vavuniya, wrote a blog for the Huffington Post about the project. You can read it here.

Inclusive Rural Development 

This project worked to reduce poverty in Uva and Central Provinces by:

1. Improving sustainable livelihoods and creating employment opportunities for women and people with disabilities
2. Promoting climate-resilient and inclusive socio-economic development by supporting the growth of small and medium enterprises and improving business development services and environmental support

2,000 individuals have been employed and 60 business development service providers have benefited.