Our Cleft Programme During the Covid Pandemic
The impact and threat of the Covid-19 pandemic brought elective surgery in Ethiopia to a halt at the beginning of March 2020. This meant that we had to pause the mobilisation aspect of our cleft programme - which provides vital access services to those in need of surgery for cleft lip and palate.
In October 2020 we were able to relaunch the programme with new measures put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 for everyone involved.
Measures include:
facilitating patient testing for Covid prior to their surgery
providing guardians with PPE for their journey and stay in the hospital
providing patients and guardians with accommodation whilst they wait for test results