Our Burkina Faso Story
Burkina Faso has thousands of unrepaired cleft cases, similar to other African countries in the region. Due to the lack of resources, skills, and funding, many of these patients live their entire lives without receiving any sort of treatment even though the procedure is simple. In 2013, GSF partnered with West African sponsor FATOM, a non-profit with activities including education and health care throughout several West African countries. FATOM has been a generous sponsor of GSF on its missions to Ivory Coast and Senegal.
2013 Mission Statistics
GSF’s first trip to Ouagadougou took place on December 6-13, 2013 at the invitation of our West African sponsor FATOM. Surgical procedures were performed at Chu-Yo Hospital. GSF team members brought donations of medical supplies and equipment for the local medical professionals. In addition to surgical screenings and procedures, GSF team members provided local medical staff with hands-on training and a lecture series on multi-disciplinary and comprehensive cleft care.
The team screened 8 patients and performed 3 primary cleft lip repairs and 1 cleft lip revision.