As a health care practitioner, you have to move with the times ... I need to constantly improve myself so I can provide the best care for my patients.

Professor Olugbemiga Ogunlewe
Chief cleft surgeon and head of LUTH cleft care team

She has been a cleft surgery trainer since 1994 and is the lead trainer of the WACS Smile Train post fellowship Cleft Surgery Certification program at LUTH.

 

The surgery lasts for over two hours. As she wakes up, Mirabel starts to whimper.

 

Beads of sweat line Adekunle’s forehead as he removes his scrub and gloves. He settles into a plastic chair and fills out a form.

 

Adekunle says he loves the rapid transformation and relief cleft lip and palate repair surgeries bring to both patients and their families.

 

“The biggest motivation for me … is the joy we put on the faces of the parents of these children,” he says.

 

A father of two, the 35-year-old surgeon didn’t see himself becoming a doctor when he was in junior secondary school.

 

“I hated being in hospitals,” he remembers with a smile.

 

Then a close friend had a bone fracture and got admitted to hospital. Adekunle began to visit frequently and the idea of becoming a doctor slowly took hold of him.

 

He went on to graduate with a degree in dental surgery and a distinction in restorative dentistry at Obafemi Awolowo University in 2010.

 

But Adekunle’s education doesn’t end there. He continues to undertake more training programs to become adept at cleft care. Smile Train is partnering with the West African College of Surgeons to provide an annual nine-month fellowship training program on cleft care to surgeons across West and Central Africa. The postgraduate training, which commenced in training sites in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal in early July, will groom six surgeons annually over the next five years and help them to specialize in cleft care.

Dr. Adeola Adekunle, a senior resident doctor at LUTH since 2014, explains how training has enabled him to grow his skills and become adept at cleft care.

Since April, he has been taking lessons on comprehensive cleft care on Zoom. Instructors use a mix of text and photos for illustration.

 

Adekunle says the online training has brought trainees and experts from several West African countries together to share ideas, learn from different specialists and to exchange knowledge and experience.

 

Usually trainees have to travel to training centers to receive instructions and learn from more experienced surgeons in the theater. In late March, federal authorities imposed lockdowns to reduce the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, affecting mobility and forcing the dental clinic at LUTH to stop operations.

Since April, Smile Train and the West African College of Surgeons have been running a virtual training program in order to overcome mobility restrictions brought in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sessions, which take place over Zoom, bring together trainees and experts from across West Africa to share ideas and knowledge.

Nigeria reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in late February.

 

Health authorities scrambled to increase training and equipment as cases spread across the country’s 36 states.

 

The pandemic exposed the challenges battering Nigeria’s underfunded healthcare system. In 2017, Nigeria’s health expenditure as a share of GDP was 3.76%, compared to South Africa’s 8.11%. Since 2016, Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to the healthcare sector as a share of annual federal budget has been below 5%, significantly lower than the 15% African nations agreed to allocate to their health budgets during the Abuja Declaration meeting in 2001. Out-of-pocket expenditure still accounts for over 70% and the National Health Insurance Scheme, launched in 2005, has only achieved some 5% coverage.

Nigeria reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in late February.

 

Health authorities scrambled to increase training and equipment as cases spread across the country’s 36 states.

 

The pandemic exposed the challenges battering Nigeria’s underfunded healthcare system. In 2017, Nigeria’s health expenditure as a share of GDP was 3.76%, compared to South Africa’s 8.11%. Since 2016, Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to the healthcare sector as a share of annual federal budget has been below 5%, significantly lower than the 15% African nations agreed to allocate to their health budgets during the Abuja Declaration meeting in 2001. Out-of-pocket expenditure still accounts for over 70% and the National Health Insurance Scheme, launched in 2005, has only achieved some 5% coverage.