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The ‘Podiatry First in Ghana,’ a non-governmental organisation, is to provide foot health awareness education and free foot screening for the public at Tudu in Accra central.
The free foot screening, which would take place at the Tudu STC terminal at Accra’s central business area on December 2nd, is aimed at raising awareness of podiatry (foot, ankle, and lower limb treatment) and providing early detection of lower limb pathologies.
Madam Amanda Mawudoku, a Podiatrist and founder of the organisation, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the screening was a medical inspection that podiatrists do to detect potential health disorders or diseases in people who did not have any symptoms of the disease.
Madam Mawudoku said medical screenings were helpful in ensuring early detection of diseases for enhanced treatment outcomes, adding that the goal was also to ensure lifestyle changes or surveillance, to reduce the risk of diseases.
She said the target group for the free foot screening was mostly individuals without current symptoms but who might be at high risk for certain adverse health outcomes.
She encouraged the public, both adults and children, to take advantage of the screening to have their feet screened, stressing that health screening was important to everyone for early detection of diseases.
“Screening helps improve the quality of life and reduces lower limb amputation.
The purpose of screening and assessment is to provide information about a person’s foot health and to empower them to make informed decisions,” she added.
She indicated that foot problems could have a domino effect, leading to knee, hip, and lower back issues, saying it was important for people to take foot health seriously and practice preventive measures.
Touching on the availability of podiatry services in Ghana, she revealed that even though it was an important arm of medicine that helped manage and prevent many diseases, Ghana currently did not have a permanent full-time podiatrist.
Madam Mawudoku said she had encountered several challenges with her work since her return to Ghana from Europe in 2001 as the first podiatrist, and that the free screening was part of her initiative to address some of the issues.
“One podiatrist to 33 million people in Ghana is not enough. In 2025, a new stream of podiatrists will practice in Ghana. I am putting out a call for UK, American, European, and English-speaking podiatrists to come to Ghana,” she said.
She further called on the government to sponsor more people to specialise in the field, to help reduce the rate of amputations of lower limbs in Ghana.
This provided the commitment to keep Ghanaians on their feet and pain-free to work and live long, as well as ensuring that they had the same access to foot health services as that of Western countries.
She further noted that podiatrists support primary care by providing expertise in foot and ankle health and take a lead role in supporting people who live with long-term conditions that affect the health of the foot and ankle, such as arthritis, diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases.
Regular podiatric care offered long-term benefits that extended beyond the feet, by preventing and treating foot problems, and podiatrists help maintain mobility, reduce pain, and improve the overall quality of life.
Madam Mawudoku reiterated that lifelong foot health was achievable with the help of regular podiatric care and that with the right foot care, people could keep their feet healthy and continue to be active for many years.
