Oak Foundation Awards MiracleFeet $5 Million Grant to Help End Disability Caused by Untreated Clubfoot
Carrboro, NC (PRWEB) April 21, 2017 -- MiracleFeet announced today that Oak Foundation has awarded the non-profit a $5 million grant over five years to help end the disability caused by untreated clubfoot in low-income countries. The foundation’s grant will support an ambitious 15-year plan in cooperation with the Global Clubfoot Initiative to end disability caused by clubfoot worldwide.
Oak Foundation has played a pivotal role in MiracleFeet’s success with previous grant funding awarded every year since 2011. This new and largest grant, a part of Oak Foundation’s Special Interest Programme, is of particular significance, taking aim at a root cause of poverty in developing countries and demonstrating the foundation’s confidence in MiracleFeet’s continued ability to build and scale sustainable programs with a compelling return on philanthropic investment. The grant provides general operating funds to make clubfoot treatment more readily accessible in low income communities worldwide. MiracleFeet is responsible for raising $2 million in new funding over the next three years to qualify for the $2 million in years four and five.
“MiracleFeet shares our vision to create better lives for the disadvantaged,” says Caroline Turner, Chair of Oak Foundation Board of Trustees. “They are protecting vulnerable children and families, enabling them to thrive within their communities. It’s our pleasure to support MiracleFeet’s work and ensure every child born with clubfoot has the opportunity to reach his or her full potential.”
“We are so honored to have the Oak Foundation’s continued support. Oak Foundation has believed in MiracleFeet since our inception, and this generous gift will help ensure that an additional 60,000 children born with clubfoot get the treatment they need to lead active, healthy, and productive lives,” said Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld, MiracleFeet Executive Director.
One in 750 children is born with clubfoot, a debilitating birth defect that causes one or both feet to point inward and upward, making it difficult and painful to walk. Each year, around 180,000 children are born with clubfoot -- 90% of whom live in low and middle-income countries. Although clubfoot is fully and inexpensively treatable in 95% of cases, most families in low-income countries have very limited access to treatment. As a result, over one million children currently live with untreated clubfoot, making clubfoot one of the major causes of physical disability worldwide.
A child born with clubfoot in a developing county faces terrible odds and yet can be fully treated for about $250, transforming his or her life forever. By ensuring that more children have access to the treatment they need, MiracleFeet is reducing the number of children living with the devastating consequences of physical disability in low income countries. These effects include increased risks of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, lack of education, unemployment, stigma, and often lifelong poverty.
In addition to dramatically improving the quality of life of the children and families affected by clubfoot, providing treatment also has substantial economic benefits by unleashing significant earning potential of those affected. MiracleFeet estimates that if every child born with clubfoot was treated it would result in $25 billion of increased earnings over the lives of those children. The full treatment of 60,000 children under the five-year period of this grant will result in $8 billion of increased earnings.
“Many of the world’s problems are overwhelming. This is one we can solve and we are immensely grateful that Oak Foundation is committed to making this possible,” said Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld, Executive Director of MiracleFeet. “While the occurrence of clubfoot cannot be eliminated, we have shown that it is possible to treat clubfoot effectively and inexpensively under almost any circumstances. And by leveraging technology and innovation, we are proving we can achieve greater scale while keeping costs low.”
As the largest organization working exclusively on the issue of clubfoot, MiracleFeet has now provided proper treatment to more than 21,000 children in 17 different low-income countries through partnerships with local healthcare providers and donors like Oak Foundation.
For more information or to support MiracleFeet, please visit http://www.miraclefeet.org.
About Oak Foundation
Oak Foundation commits its resources to address issues of global, social and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged. With offices in Europe, Africa, India and North America, Oak Foundation makes grants to organizations in approximately 40 countries worldwide.
About MiracleFeet
Clubfoot is a leading birth defect causing poverty and abuse in developing countries, though it’s virtually unrecognized in the U.S. due to high treatment rates. MiracleFeet is a non-profit dedicated to providing proper treatment for children born with clubfoot in developing countries. It partners with local orthopedic surgeons working in public hospitals to establish and support clubfoot clinics. This is the most effective, efficient and sustainable approach to prevent the significant disability caused by clubfoot. A child born with clubfoot in a developing county can be fully treated for about $250 per child, transforming his or her life forever. MiracleFeet is proud to be supported by Google.org, Clarks Shoes, Suncast, USAID-DIV, as well as many very generous individual donors and clubfoot families. To learn more, please visit http://www.miraclefeet.org.
Jill Dykes, Jill Dykes PR, +1 (919) 749-8488, [email protected]
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