title: Demographics of cleft care providers in Africa and reported experience in training and practice: direct analysis of continent-based practitioners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate the impact of several geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic variables on cleft care delivery in Africa, and to investigate the current status of cleft care delivery in Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey of practitioners attending the second Pan-African Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate (PACCLIP).
  
  
  METHODS
  The annual PACCLIP conference in Ibadan, Nigeria, West Africa, February 2007.
  
  
  METHODS
  To provide an analysis of the demographics and training experience of cleft care providers in Africa by collating information directly from the continent-based practitioners.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plastic surgeons and oral and maxillofacial surgeons provide the majority of cleft care. Most of the participants reported availability of formal training programs in their respective countries. The predominant practice settings were university and government-based. During training, half of the providers had encountered up to 30 cleft cases, and a quarter had managed more than 100 cases. Representation of visiting surgeons were equally distributed between African and non-African countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides initial and detailed analysis crucial to understanding the underlying framework of cleft care composition teams, demographics of providers, and training and practice experience. This awareness will further enable North American and other non-African plastic surgeons to effectively partner with African cleft care providers to have a further reaching impact in the region.
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Loma Linda University Medical Center, 11175 Anderson Street, Suite 21126, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA.   oadetayo@llu.edu
authors: Oluwaseun A
authors: OA
authors: Adetayo
authors: Mark C
authors: MC
authors: Martin
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000628:therapy*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000628:therapy*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires