RunFree2030 in 2025: Accelerating Access to Clubfoot Care

As we begin 2026, we’re taking a moment to celebrate a year of progress and partnership. 2025 marked a milestone for RunFree2030: the launch of the RunFree Accelerator, a bold initiative designed to advance our three core objectives - Accessibility, Service Integration, and Quality Treatment.

Thanks to the generous support of the Swift Foundation, we established the approach and a clear vision for transformative change. Together, with our members, we developed a clear framework that maps out the steps Global Clubfoot Initiative (GCI) will take over the next three years to ensure that every child born with clubfoot has access to timely, effective treatment.

Why Accessibility Matters

Clubfoot is a treatable condition, yet far too many children around the world have historically lacked access to care. Without treatment, clubfoot can lead to lifelong disability, limiting mobility, education, and opportunity. By prioritising accessibility, we’re closing these gaps and creating healthier, more inclusive communities - because every child deserves the chance to walk, play and run free.

What We Achieved in 2025

With donor support from the Swift Grant and others, and the collective strength of our global network, we delivered key activities that set the stage for accelerated progress:

Data Analysis and Global Publication

Clear proof that national clubfoot programmes are making an impact emerged from our global data which showed a 24% increase in babies starting treatment from 2021 to 2023.

We published the results in the British Medical Journal: Global Health to showcase the advances our network has made in service delivery and elevate clubfoot as a global health priority. The article draws on data stretching back to 2005, when the Ponseti treatment really started to spread globally, and shares best practices to promote integration and replication within national health systems worldwide.

The strongest proof that the comprehensive ‘ACCESS’ national clubfoot programme model described in RunFree2030 works is in the growing number of countries where more than 50% of babies start treatment in their first year of life, giving them the best chance of thriving.

The data also gave us deep insights into the challenges and barriers to reaching our 2030 goal of 50% treatment coverage globally, enabling us to design our future programmes around using our collective strengths to find ways to overcome these. The top 8 challenges identified from more than 70 countries were:

Awareness: Insufficient amongst parents, community and healthcare providers,

Human Resources: Insufficient numbers, untrained, high turnover

Transportation: Long distances and cost

Clinics: Insufficient numbers of clinics, far from the babies who need treatment

Socioeconomic: Families lack resources to prioritise treatment

Prioritisation: Disinterest from medical community, lack of political will

Supply chain: Costly treatment materials, unreliable availability

Security and political stability

Global Consultation and Collaboration

Early in 2025, we engaged our members through interviews, meetings, and surveys to identify challenges and co-create solutions. These conversations revealed critical barriers:

· awareness gaps,

· workforce shortages,

· socioeconomic constraints, and

· limited clinic availability – along with the innovations that are being used to overcome these.

Guided by member input, we shaped a roadmap for the next three years, reinforcing GCI’s role as a convener of expertise and resources that can build on the strengths of our network that is already reaching the countries where more than 80% of babies with clubfoot are born.

Programme Design for New Initiatives

Building on these insights, we designed the RunFree Accelerator with our members. Together, we outlined activities in three focus areas: Capacity Building, Knowledge and Evidence, and Integration. Plans include regional trainings, expanded translation of resources, clinical fellowships, frameworks for quality care and integration within health systems, and global partnerships - all aimed at driving scale-up and integration across diverse contexts.

Red more here: Advocacy for integration of clubfoot treatment into national health services – why does it matter and how will we do it?

Translation and Resource Accessibility

To ensure inclusivity, we translated the RunFree2030 strategy into Spanish and French, enabling partners worldwide to engage fully in meetings and programme development. We also began building a multilingual resource hub to make GCI’s tools and guidance more accessible than ever.

With support provided by the Swift grant, we were able to meaningfully involve our members in creating the RunFree Accelerator strategy, including our co-applicant, Miraclefeet who support treatment of children in 37 countries worldwide. This culminated in our first international, in person board meeting with members, including Miraclefeet, represented in October 2025 as we launched the RunFree Accelerator. A survey of our members in late 2025 revealed that they were confident in, and aligned with, our strategy as we launched this new programme, and we look forward to all that we will achieve together for children everywhere.

The Power of Partnership

None of this would have been possible without the support of the Swift Foundation and the collective input of GCI’s 60 members. By leveraging data, making resources accessible, and co-designing solutions with our network, we are well-positioned to scale up and accelerate progress toward universal access to clubfoot care - expanding reach and building sustainable systems for the future.

As we look ahead to 2026, we carry forward the momentum of this year’s achievements with renewed energy and purpose. The RunFree Accelerator has shown what’s possible when data, collaboration, and commitment come together - and we’re just getting started. With our global community and partners by our side, we will continue to push boundaries, expand access, and ensure that every child born with clubfoot has the chance to walk, play, and run free. Here’s to another year of progress, partnership, and impact!