Sierra Leone: Raising awareness on the reasons for children given birth to with sores or malformation on their lips or inside their mouth commonly known as ‘cleft lip’ Smile Train on Tuesday 4th May 2021 engaged stakeholders on a one day awareness raising activity in Kailahun district.
The engagement was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Cleft lip and cleft palate are birth defects that occur when a baby’s lip or mouth do not form properly during pregnancy. Together, these birth defects commonly are called “orofacial clefts”.
According to research the lip forms between the fourth and seventh weeks of pregnancy and as a baby develops during pregnancy, body tissue and special cells from each side of the head grow toward the center of the face and join together to make the face.
This joining of tissue forms the facial features, like the lips and mouth. A cleft lip happens if the tissue that makes up the lip does not join completely before birth. This results in an opening in the upper lip. The opening in the lip can be a small slit or it can be a large opening that goes through the lip into the nose. A cleft lip can be on one or both sides of the lip or in the middle of the lip, which occurs very rarely. Children with a cleft lip also can have a cleft palate.
According to the District Medical Officer (DMO) in Kailahun, Dr. Desmond Maada Kangbai the purpose of the engagement is for the community people to be aware of the fact that children with such conditions are not as a result of witchcraft but due to malformation that occurs during pregnancy owing to some risk factors.
He disclosed that such children are entitled to the same human rights other normal children have, like the right to live, and explained that they decided to target major stakeholders from various communities within the district for them at any time such children are given birth to, the birth must be reported to the appropriate authority for necessary medical attention.
“We are currently working with Smile Train in gathering data of such children and even adults after which a date will be scheduled for their operation on a pro bono basis,” he assured, disclosing that this is the very first time such development is being taken to that part of the country.
The DMO maintained that after the engagement they issued out leaflets, posters to the health and other stakeholders for them to display in their various communities for the people to have first hand information about cleft lip and cleft palate, which according to him has been referred to as witch craft by some community people over the years.
He disclosed that few years back in Freetown at Dr Olabisi Cladius-Cole’s hospital some cleft lip and cleft palate operations were done on a free basis despite for a limited amount but this time around they hope to do more operations which is why they are launching the awareness raising in all the districts across the country so that no one will be discriminated against.
“Our aim is to discourage discrimination among school going pupils who are in most cases refuse to attend school (for) fear of being bullied by their colleagues,” he said, assuring that after the operation they as government medical operators will ensure they do follow up to ensure all the beneficiaries receive the required medication until they are okay.
He called on people in hard to reach communities within the district to ensure they listen to radio stations and also contact their health facilities to get more information about the facilities that will be provided in the coming days, weeks and month, assuring after such surgery the children will return to normal life with smiling faces.
The Risk Communication Lead at the District Health Management Team (DHMT) Francis Memeh Bundu, urged the community people to ensure they make good use of the opportunity by bringing their children and loved ones that are affected by the cleft lip and cleft palate.
He reminded them about the coming polio week which will commence on the 15th to end on the 18th May 2021, which according to him is equally vital for their children’s wellbeing.
He disclosed that the second phase of the project will be social mobilization whereas they will be moving from one chiefdom to another as a way of getting everyone involved in the process and provide treatment for the affected victims.
AMK/06/05/2021