All the healthcare professionals that attended the 2025 Sub-Saharan Africa Comprehensive Care Regional Training hosted by Operation Smile South Africa at a city bowl hotel.
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Operation Smile hosted a workshop aimed at enhancing specialist skills and encouraging collaboration to improve care for children born with cleft lips and palates across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The 2025 Sub-Saharan Africa Comprehensive Care Regional Training workshop, which took place at the City Bowl Hotel from last Monday March 24 to Thursday March 27, was attended by over 100 healthcare professionals from nine African countries.
Operation Smile South Africa (OSSA), which has an office in Mowbray, emphasised the importance of a holistic approach to care, addressing not just the medical aspects of cleft conditions but also children's emotional, social, and nutritional needs. Operation Smile’s senior director of Global Medication Education, Charlotte Steppling says the goal is to build an ecosystem where comprehensive care is the norm, not the exception.
“By training changemakers and healthcare providers who are deeply connected to their local communities, we are creating a ripple effect that will transform the healthcare landscape,” she says. Ms Steppling says their ultimate aim is to ensure that their patients, regardless of where they live, will have access to the full spectrum of care, which allows them to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives.
The healthcare professionals were taught practical skills in nutrition, speech therapy, psychosocial support, and oral health. Ms Steppling says that nutrition sessions focused on infant feeding techniques, speech therapy covered assessment and intervention strategies, and psychosocial training explored ways to support patients' emotional well-being.
She says oral health training included hands-on work with obturators and speech devices.
“These sessions equipped healthcare providers with the tools needed to make a real difference in their communities,” she says.
One participant, a dentist from Madagascar, Dr Zakoly Vinny Andriamananteasoa, said, “This training opened my eyes and exposed me to perspectives beyond my home country. I realised the potential we have, both individually and collectively, to support one another and help the patients we serve,”
He said he was proud that he could go home and share what he had learned with the other dentists who will volunteer alongside him.
Another workshop attendee, Dr Asmal Merga Lemmi from Ethiopia expressed his gratitude for what he learnt during the workshops.
“I arrived here not knowing anyone in this group, but I leave with more than 70 new friends. I feel part of a community,” he says.
Ms Steppling says the lasting impact of this training will be felt across Africa as these newly equipped professionals bring comprehensive care closer to home, ensuring no child is left behind.
If anyone would like to find out more about OSSA you can visit https://operationsmile.org.za/
Dietician, Dede Kwadjo from Ghana running a workshop on nutrition.
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