Fund Comprehensive Cleft Care for 26 Children in Ghana

For a child born with a cleft lip or cleft palate, surgery can be a major turning point—but it is not the whole course of care.

Children may need nutritional support before they are ready for surgery. After the procedure, recovery continues. Dental care, speech therapy and psychosocial support can all be part of helping a child eat, speak, heal and participate more confidently in everyday life.

Operation Smile Ghana has worked in the country since 2011 and has built a comprehensive model around that continuum of care. Mayekoo is raising funds with the Ghana team to support the next 26 children and counting.

The campaign is intentionally specific. It is not asking donors to fund an abstract health program. It is asking them to help move identified children through a safe, organized cleft-care pathway with an experienced medical partner.

A repaired cleft may be visible. The nutrition, speech, dental and emotional care around it often is not. This fundraiser supports both.

Comprehensive cleft care can affect health, communication, nutrition and social participation.

Surgery addresses the physical cleft, while nutrition, dental care, speech therapy and psychosocial support help address the broader needs that can accompany it. Treating the full pathway gives a child more than an operation date—it gives the care around that operation a chance to work.

Families seeking cleft care may face medical, geographic and financial barriers at the same time.

Some children struggle with feeding and nutrition. Families may travel long distances for specialized services. Treatment can require more than one type of clinician and more than one visit, making access difficult when household resources are limited.

The campaign goal supports comprehensive care for 26 children through Operation Smile Ghana.

Funds may support pre-surgery nutrition and medical preparation, the surgical procedure, post-operative recovery, dental services, speech therapy, psychosocial support and related patient-care logistics.

Operation Smile Ghana provides the clinical program. Mayekoo supports fundraising, donor stewardship and reporting around the campaign.