CURE International India Trust

CURE International India Trust, known as CURE India, is a national nonprofit healthcare organisation working to eliminate disability caused by clubfoot in India. It began service on 8 April 2009 with the stated vision of an India free of disability from clubfoot, on the principle that no child should be left without treatment.

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Clubfoot is a congenital condition in which a baby's foot is twisted out of shape or position, and CURE India cites roughly 40,000 children born with it in India each year. The organisation's model is built on the Ponseti Method, a non-surgical treatment of serial casting followed by bracing, rather than corrective surgery. Its stated philosophy is "treat them when they are young", because an infant's bones, muscles and connective tissue respond best to correction. It works through designated weekly clubfoot clinics hosted inside existing government and partner hospitals, and by training the doctors and health workers already in those systems.

Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi.

Major Areas of Work

• Clubfoot treatment delivery: Running designated weekly clubfoot clinics that enrol children and take them through casting, correction and follow-up.

• Medical capacity building: Training orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists and other clinicians in the Ponseti Method of clubfoot management.

• Frontline health worker mobilisation: Orienting ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and district health staff so newborns with clubfoot are identified and referred early.

• Family counselling and adherence support: Counsellors and social workers who guide parents through bracing, cast care and the long maintenance phase where relapse risk sits.

• Assistive technology and data systems: Supplying foot abduction braces and running a database application to track every enrolled child across clinics.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• Weekly Designated Clubfoot Clinics: Fixed weekly clinics run inside partner hospitals across the country, giving families a predictable day and place for casting and review.

• Training on the Ponseti Method of Clubfoot Management: Structured medical training programmes hosted at government medical colleges and institutes, with over 160 conducted to date.

• Train the Trainer on the Ponseti Method: An advanced programme, run with the Global Clubfoot Initiative and the Central Institute of Orthopedics, that builds a pool of Indian clinicians able to teach the method themselves.

• Steenbeek Foot Abduction Brace: Provision of low-cost braces during the maintenance phase to hold the corrected foot position and prevent relapse.

• RBSK health worker training: Sessions, including online formats, that equip Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram staff and state health networks to screen and refer children.

The training work is the organisation's flagship. Rather than treating children only through its own staff, CURE India teaches the Ponseti Method to clinicians inside government hospitals and medical colleges, so that clubfoot care becomes part of the public health system in each state. This is paired with community-level awareness work through ASHA and Anganwadi networks, which is how children reach the clinics in the first place.

Impact

CURE India states it has treated over 1,28,831 children through 489 designated weekly clubfoot clinics across all 29 states, and that it has trained more than 11,738 doctors in the Ponseti Method through 168 training programmes; its Founder Director's message puts the doctor figure at over 11,731 and states that 33% of children born with clubfoot in India are treated in CURE India clinics. It reports more than 30 CSR partners and maintains partnerships with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the Government of Odisha, King George's Medical University, the National Institute for Locomotor Disabilities in Kolkata, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Institute for Persons with Physical Disabilities, the Global Clubfoot Initiative, CBM India, Rotary International districts and clubs, Mukul Madhav Foundation, Jindal Stainless Limited and the Fena Foundation.

Leadership

• Dr. Santhosh George G, Director

• Dr. Mathew Varghese, Medical Advisor

Working at CURE India means working on one clearly defined condition with a treatment that is proven and a measurable endpoint. The work is field-heavy and system-facing: it involves state and district health administrations, government hospitals, medical colleges, frontline health workers and families in small towns and villages. It suits people who want public health experience in India at national scale, whether in programme coordination, counselling, community mobilisation, clinical training logistics or monitoring. Roles exist across all 29 states, so it also suits people who want to work in their own region rather than relocate to a metro.