Operation Smile: Health Equity Trivia

How often is a child born with a cleft condition?

• once every 15 seconds

• 1 in every 3 minute

• 1 in every 25 minutes

• once an hour

Answer explanation

1. As of 2017, there were more than 7 million people living with cleft conditions in low- and middle-income countries. 

2. There are 5 million in the countries where Operation Smile works. 

3. Every 3 minutes, a child is born somewhere in the world with a cleft lip or cleft palate - about one in 500-750 births. 

4. While the global average is about 1 in every 700 babies are born with a cleft lip and/or pallet, in South Asia this number grows to around 1 in every 500. 

What percentage of people in low and middle income countries lack access to basic surgical care?

• 10%

• 25%

• 50%

• 90%

Answer explanation

1. More people die every year from lack of access to surgical care than from malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV combined. 

2. In low- and middle-income countries, there is approximately 1 surgeon for every 100,000 people. 

3. 78% of the global population lives in areas that do not meet recommended surgical rates 

4. 2.2 million more surgeons, anesthetists and obstetricians will be needed in the next 15 years to ensure that 80 percent of the world’s population has access to safe surgical care

How many women in low to middle income countries do not work due to barriers in education, lack or mentorship, and social stigma?

• 500 thousand

• 1 million

• 500 million

• 1 billion

Answer explanation

1. Operation Smile's Women in medicine program pillars are:

2. - Educating women in low- and middle-income countries in advanced medical specialties: Operation Smile is committed to providing high-quality training for women and giving them the opportunity to enter the medical work force. 

3. - Empowering women from low- and middle-income countries to become leaders in global medicine: Supporting women who wish to pursue high-level positions is critical to establishing gender equality in health. 

4. - Expanding opportunities for female health care workers from underserved communities to receive mentorship: In male-dominated careers, such as medicine, societal norms are not always encouraging of women. The presence of a mentor can be the difference between a woman entering and staying in healthcare or turning away from adversity. 

5. -Elevating cleft care in high-need countries: Providing opportunities for women to enter the medical work force and become leaders in medicine will address the shortfall of health workers and increase access to care for patients in need of cleft treatment. 

Globally malnutrition contributes to an estimated 45% of all deaths in children under 5 years of age. Roughly how many malnourished children under the age of 5 have cleft conditions?

• 6,000

• 30,000

• 120,000

• 300,000

Answer explanation

-Operation Smile strives to deliver robust and holistic nutrition programs to ensure that patients are fit to receive safe, timely and effective surgical care. Compelled to action by our vision of a world where health and dignity are improved through safe surgery, we distribute nutritional resources and offer counseling and support to patients and their families so they can live healthier and better lives. We are working to address these challenges through NGO, hospital, and community partnerships that help us develop locally tailored solutions so that every patient who arrives undernourished can eventually receive safe surgery. 

-To successfully support mothers in providing breastmilk for their infants, Operation Smile provides: 

1. Breastfeeding education, including safe breastmilk expression instruction, as early as possible in the perinatal period  

2. Regular follow ups to ensure that the infant is growing and gaining weight appropriately invited for an educational visit at Operation Smile’s program country 

3. -When breastfeeding is not possible, Operation Smile provides breastmilk substitutes can be used provide nutrition for infants 

__% of oral health providers work in low-income countries

Answer explanation

1. Oral health providers are unequally distributed around the world.  

1. Oral health providers tend to live in urban centers and more affluent areas. 

2. Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of southeast Asia have the least oral health providers.  

2. A greater burden of disease falls on vulnerable communities. 

1. 3 out of 4 people living in low- and middle-income countries are affected by oral disease.  

3. OS believes that all people wherever they live and whatever their income should have access to care, knowledge, and tools needed to maintain good oral health.  

4. To achieve this operation smile delivers oral health care and builds needed workforce capacity where it’s needed most.  

5. As part of operation smile comprehensive care model, our dental team provides guidance about oral health prevention to every patient and caregiver.  

6. Also delivers care for patients from birth to adulthood And is committed to strengthening the oral health workforce where it’s needed most with education programs where advanced training occurs at the hub where providers from rural areas participate in trainings.

Ghana has a population of 32 million people. There are _ (how many) speech therapists.

Answer explanation

1. In Ghana, over one hundred thousand children have speech and language disorders, with many living far from the nearest hospital or clinic. 

2. Speech therapy is an under-developed area of care, and there is a critical shortage of speech therapists. For the entire population of 32 million people, there are currently only 40 speech therapists trained by the University of Ghana. 

3. For four years, Operation Smile has been implementing the Speech on Wheels - Breaking Barriers to Care project. We provide children with the care and support they need to develop their speech and ability to communicate. The long-term goal of this project is to build local capacity and strengthen the health care system in Ghana. 

Women make up 70% of the healthcare workforce. What percentage of leadership roles do you think are held by women in health institutions?

• 5%

• 25%

• 50%

• 75%

Answer explanation

Operation Smile’s women in medicine initiative will increase medical training, and academic and leadership opportunities for female health care professionals through structured mentorship programs across 4 regions of the world. 

Does a patient with a cleft condition typically require speech therapy before or after they receive reconstructive surgery?

• before

• after

• both

• neither

Answer explanation

1. For patients with cleft conditions, especially those born with cleft palates, speech and language development can be hindered. 50% of children with repaired cleft conditions continue experiencing speech challenges at 5 years old.  

2. Speech issues prevent children from socializing with peers, often leading to stigma, social isolation, and psychological distress. 

3. Although speech therapy is proven to effectively reduce speech errors and improve the quality of life for children born with cleft lip and cleft palate, in many regions in low- and middle-income countries, children affected by cleft conditions lack access to speech pathologist. 

4. Operation Smile works to enhance speech care by developing essential workforce capacity in high-need areas. 

According to a 2019 study by The Lancet, __ nurses would be required to remedy the global healthcare worker shortage.

Answer explanation

1. In Ethiopia last February, Operation Smile hosted the first SSA (Sub-Saharan African) Nursing Conference where nurses will be identified and trained from targeted locations within the Sub-Saharan African region as Trainers, enabling them to replicate the training in their respective countries. There will be 31 participants at this conference and the idea is that once they return home, they will each teach at least 2 more people in the next year.  

This is just one example of many similar conferences that Operation Smile will hold.

In Ethiopia, the second largest country in Africa with population of 130 million people, Jimma University Hospital serves more than 15 million people. It has _ (how many) plastic surgeons?

Answer explanation

Watch this video for more information on Operation Smile's work in Ethiopia.

More Than Smiles: Jimma, Ethiopia (youtube.com)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfkZqsfReEE