changing how we do things

Senior Advisor To The Ministry Of Health In Ethiopia

Hope Walks has placed a senior advisor on physical rehabilitation within the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia. Ashebir Lakewa is an experienced physical therapist who works closely with the Ministry of Health's senior officials to strengthen the government clinics' capacity to identify and treat children born with clubfoot and lead to long-term sustainability. The fruits of this effort include creating and distributing clubfoot referral catalogs to government clinics and mother and child workers throughout the country, ensuring medical supplies in conflict areas, providing clubfoot and disability expertise, and developing a National Clubfoot Standard Treatment guidance.

Training Health Workers

The moment of birth is critical, especially if the child is born with clubfoot. Do the midwives, traditional birth attendants, or maternity nurses know what clubfoot is and where treatment can be found? Too often, the story we hear is no. Our teams have taken a strategic, nationwide approach this fiscal year in partnership with the Ministry of Health to provide Early Detection and Referral (EDR) training to these specialized health workers. Early intervention exponentially increases the chances that the child born with clubfoot will walk free from disability. As front-line workers, we want them to know clubfoot is treatable and most effective when started early. This year our staff trained hundreds in EDR to develop and ensure systems/procedures are integrated into their work to identify and refer children born with any congenital defects, including clubfoot.

SHARING GOD’S WORD

In FY22, Hope Walks launched a new program to share the gospel message with kids called KIDStory. This interactive curriculum makes learning about Jesus fun. KIDStory equips parent advisors to create conditions where families of children with clubfoot encounter the love of Jesus through telling His story and the working of His spirit. Each lesson involves telling a specific Bible story using costumes and props. The parent advisor will then lead activities, such as musical chairs, drama, music, or art to retell the story. And each includes various discovery and response questions.

Path Tool Expansion

Can patient treatment be tracked using paper and pencil? Sure, but as part of our efforts to improve care, Hope Walks has embraced technology to make things easier and more efficient for our staff, but more importantly, to offer better service to our families. In FY21, Hope Walks partnered with Akros, a global health data-driven organization. Together we have devoted countless hours to planning, developing, and piloting our Patient Assessment Toward Healing (PATH) tool. PATH is built on DHIS2, a global electronic health platform widely used in public health settings in lowand middle-income countries worldwide. Throughout this fiscal year, Hope Walks trained our parent advisors and partner clinic staff to use this tool to gather patient treatment data in each clubfoot clinic, allowing our team to respond more quickly to patient needs and assess and monitor program outcomes.

IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE WILL MAKE STRAIGHT YOUR PATHS.

Proverbs 3:6 ESV