Community Mobilization and Awareness Creation for Orofacial Cleft Services: A Survey of Nigerian Cleft Service Providers

Background. The opportunity to provide free surgical care for orofacial clefts has opened a new vista and is enhanced by well-informed communities who are aware of the free surgical services available to them. It is the responsibility of cleft care providers to adequately inform these communities via a combination of community mobilization and awareness creation. Methods. This was a nationwide, cross-sectional descriptive study of all orofacial cleft service providers in Nigeria using a structured, self-administered questionnaire. Results. A total of 4648 clefts have been repaired, 50.8% by the ten government-owned and 49.2% by the five nongovernment-owned organizations included in the study. The nongovernment-owned institutions seemed to be more aggressive about community mobilization and awareness creation than government-owned ones, and this was reflected in their patient turnout. Most of the organizations studied would prefer a separate, independent body to handle their awareness campaign. Conclusion. Community mobilization requires skill and dedication and may require formal training or dedicated budgets by government-owned and nongovernment-owned institutions alike. Organizations involved in cleft care provision must take community mobilization and awareness seriously if the largely unmet needs of orofacial cleft patients in Nigeria are to be tackled.