Obi said from the 18,600 cases, more than 1,200 children benefited from comprehensive cleft care interventions.
She attributed the transformative impact to strategic collaborations and investments in comprehensive cleft care, research and innovation.
"The positive impact on individuals with clefts we have experienced was borne out of concerted efforts of dedicated medical professionals and counsel of the Africa Medical Advisory Council (AMAC). The intentional programmatic investments address the needs of the patients while empowering medical professionals to provide the highest standards of surgical and anaesthesia care within the local community," she said.
She added, "If we are to truly achieve Universal Health Coverage, our focus must be set on lifting the burden that people living in low-resource settings often face due to inequitable access to the much-needed timely safe surgery and anaesthesia care."
Superstition hinders cleft palate treatment
Obi said progress in this journey can only be achieved through collaborations with government, corporate partners, and non-governmental organizations and institutions.
She said the causes of clefts are still unknown, but it could be associated with environmental factors such as genetics, certain medications and smoking.
According to Obi, Smile Train continues to dispel myths and misinformation surrounding the condition while partnering with local medical professionals.
She said since 2002, Smile Train has developed local partnerships with more than 700 partner hospitals and over 300 medical partners in 42 countries throughout Africa to provide free cleft treatment.
To date, Smile Train's local medical partners have provided more than 170,000 life-changing cleft surgeries in the region.