Cleft-focused NGO provides surgeries to over 18,600 patients

A leading cleft organisation, Smile Train, said it had provided free life-changing cleft surgeries to more than 18,600 beneficiaries in the last financial year 2023.

The organisation, which disclosed this in a statement, said it provided 16,250 cleft surgeries in 2022.

Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, Smile Train, Nkeiruka Obi, attributed the transformative impact to strategic collaborations and investments in comprehensive cleft care, research and innovation.

The statement said: “The positive impact on individuals with clefts we have experienced was borne out of the concerted efforts of dedicated medical professionals and counsel of the Africa Medical Advisory Council. The intentional programmatic investments address the needs of the patients while empowering medical professionals to provide the highest standards of surgical and anesthesia care within the local community.

“If we are to truly achieve universal health coverage, focus must be set on lifting the burden that people living in low-resource settings often face due to inequitable access to the much-needed timely safe surgery and anesthesia care.”

“We can achieve progress in this journey through collaborations with government, corporate partners, and non-governmental organisations and institutions.”