Conference Schedule

CLEFT CARE IN AFRICA: TEAM WORK WITHIN AND ACROSS CONTINENTS

Cleft care in most regions of Africa has been limited in availability and riddled with many challenges. In fact, it is a common assumption that cleft lip and palate is not common in Africa and represents a low priority among health care providers. Recently a Pan African Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate was held in Nigeria. 150 cleft providers from 10 African countries participated in this meeting and shed light on the vast need for cleft care and the numbers of committed cleft care providers on the continent who often are working in isolation. In bringing this group together it appeared that, in spite of what Africa lacks in terms of financial resources and logistical ease, it makes up for with the commitment and collaborative nature of its health care providers. Harnessing this "social capital" will allow for rapid increases in cleft care across the continent. This panel will present a sampling of the rapid increase in collaboration among cleft providers in Africa and the benefits of such cooperation in the face of the unique challenges to cleft care in Africa.

Participants:

• Linda L. D'Antonio, PhD
• Oladapo H. Olasoji, DDS
• Brenda Louw, PhD
• Asrat Mengiste, MD

• Cleft Care in Africa: Challenges Mixed with Optimism (Oladapo Hector Olasoji, DDS)
• Strength in Numbers: The Value of Cleft Associations for Cleft Care in Africa (Brenda Louw, PhD)
• Strategies for Increasing Cleft Care in Africa: Results of a Pan African Consensus Conference (Linda L. D’Antonio, PhD)
• One Strategy for increasing cleft care in Africa: Training General Surgeons (Asrat Mengiste, MD)

DISCUSSION

BREAK FOR LUNCH