A newborn baby girl with a cleft lip has been abandoned by her mother at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, prompting a coordinated effort by health authorities and child focused organizations to ensure the infant’s survival and wellbeing. The mother quietly left the facility on Friday, November 28, shortly after discovering her baby’s cleft condition and has not returned since, leaving the infant in the care of hospital staff.
Hospital authorities say efforts are underway to locate the mother. In the meantime, a midwife at the facility has taken responsibility for the baby’s immediate care. Social welfare officials are also expected to join efforts to determine the child’s long term care options.
In a swift humanitarian response, Operation Smile Ghana, a nonprofit that provides free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries, has offered full support for the abandoned child. Country Director Peter Kwaku Titiati told Citi News that they are committed to sustaining the child until she is eligible for surgery.
“We have accepted to put the child on our nutritional support until the child attains the right age,” Titiati said. “If all goes well by the grace of God, the child will be operated on in the first or second quarter of next year. Ours is to ensure the interest of the child, that he is given adequate support and goes through the reconstructive processes to make sure the mother sees this child and regrets.”
More than 700 babies are born with cleft conditions in Ghana each year, according to recent estimates from health organizations working in the country. Despite growing awareness, stigma remains widespread, with some parents hiding their babies and, in extreme cases, abandoning or harming them.
A cleft occurs in about one in every 1,000 to 1,200 births in Ghana, making it among the most common congenital conditions in the country. A cleft lip is a visible split in the lip, while a cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth, both of which can cause serious feeding, speech and health complications if left untreated.
In many Ghanaian communities, children born with cleft conditions are often hidden, abandoned or labeled as spirit children. Some families, influenced by traditional beliefs, resort to spiritual cleansing or unorthodox practices, which worsen the physical and emotional trauma for both parents and children.
This year alone, 120 children across the Central, Western and Western North regions have received corrective surgeries, a significant boost from humanitarian organizations and health partners. Operation Smile Ghana has been particularly active, conducting quarterly short term surgical missions that handle between 60 and 70 cases each.
Cleft lip repair is ideally done between three to six months of age, while cleft palate repair is best performed between nine to 18 months and no later than age four to support normal speech development. Delayed surgery can cause speech patterns to become hardwired, making correction difficult even after surgical intervention.
Operation Smile Ghana runs programs at Korle Bu, Cape Coast, Koforidua and Ho Teaching Hospital. The organization has built substantial local capacity since establishing operations in Ghana in 2011, with 80 to 85 percent of volunteers now being Ghanaian professionals supported by colleagues from countries including Sweden and Ethiopia.
Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Country Medical Director for Operation Smile Ghana, has consistently appealed to families not to stigmatize children with cleft conditions. He stresses that these children are intelligent and capable when given proper medical support, noting that some have grown to become doctors, journalists and other professionals.
The organization relies on a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, anesthetists, pediatricians, nurses, psychologists, nutritionists, speech therapists and biomedical engineers. The team ensures children are properly assessed, attain the right weight and are fully prepared for safe surgery and rehabilitation.
Ghana recently inaugurated the National Cleft Care Centre at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi in June 2025. The nearly 30,000 square foot building represents the largest cleft care facility on the African continent. Treatment capacity at the hospital is expected to increase more than fivefold, from approximately 150 to 850 patients annually, while surgical training capacity will expand sixfold.
The center resulted from a partnership between Smile Train, the Ghana Ministry of Health, the Ghana Cleft Foundation and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. When fully operational, it will support up to 500 surgery patients and 350 comprehensive cleft care patients with services including nutritional education, speech therapy, orthodontics, psychosocial support and oral health.
Research has identified both genetic and environmental factors contributing to cleft formation. Genetic abnormalities passed from parents to children, vitamin deficiencies particularly folic acid, exposure to harmful chemicals during pregnancy and advanced parental age have all been identified as contributing factors. Maternal hypoxia caused by smoking, alcohol abuse or certain hypertensive treatments has also been linked to cleft formation.
Despite the medical understanding of cleft conditions, social stigma persists. Parents often face gossip and false accusations in their communities, with some being blamed for the condition through superstitious beliefs. This stigma drives some families to hide affected children or, as in the Cape Coast case, abandon them entirely.
The emotional and psychological toll on families can be severe. Mothers who give birth to babies with cleft conditions sometimes face rejection from extended family members or community judgment. The visible nature of cleft lip makes concealment difficult, exposing families to ongoing social pressure.
However, testimony from families whose children have received treatment demonstrates the transformative impact of corrective surgery. Parents consistently express gratitude for the life changing interventions, noting improved feeding, speech development and social integration for their children. Many report relief from community stigma once surgical correction occurs.
The abandoned baby at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital represents both the persistent challenges and the available solutions surrounding cleft care in Ghana. While her mother’s departure highlights the ongoing stigma and fear associated with the condition, the immediate response from Operation Smile Ghana and hospital staff demonstrates the growing infrastructure to support affected children.
Nutritional support will be critical for the infant in the coming months. Babies with cleft lip often struggle with feeding, which can lead to malnutrition and failure to thrive. Maintaining adequate nutrition is essential both for the child’s immediate health and to ensure she reaches the appropriate weight for safe surgery.
The case underscores the need for continued public education about cleft conditions. Healthcare workers emphasize that clefts are medical conditions requiring surgical intervention, not curses or punishments. Early medical attention can repair the defect safely, often before a child turns one, preventing speech and feeding difficulties.
Community health workers and midwives play crucial roles in identifying cleft cases and connecting families with available services. Operation Smile Ghana has conducted awareness campaigns targeting these frontline healthcare providers, particularly in the Eastern Region, where training has reached 611 community health workers.
The Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and teaching hospitals across the country maintain partnerships with organizations like Operation Smile to ensure comprehensive cleft care reaches all regions. These collaborations provide critical support for surgical missions, patient screening and follow up care.
As the abandoned infant awaits surgery in early 2026, her case serves as a reminder of both progress and persistent challenges in addressing cleft conditions in Ghana. The swift mobilization of resources for her care demonstrates improved capacity and humanitarian commitment, while the circumstances of her abandonment reveal the continuing need to combat stigma and expand public understanding of treatable congenital conditions.
