"So, the modus operandi is if you go into a country which has got no cleft services, the first thing you want to do is to do the building, work with the health ministry and the local people to make sure that you are a welcome guest there, trying to improve the conditions. So that's the first part [...]. The next part is to try and see how you can treat those patients. Create missions so that you can actually sort of make a small dent in the numbers of patients that are waiting. But more importantly, try and educate the local people, all the healthcare workers, the surgeons, anesthesiologists, the nurses to try and see if the local people can do the clefts because missions cannot solve the problems. And that makes an impact, a long lasting impact," Madaree explains.
"The first thing you're going to have is a reduction in TB transmission, right? I mean, our communities are just decimated by this disease. It's an aerogenic disease. It gets transmitted by individuals who are living in close contact in areas of congregate settings, like schools and churches. [...] And so the introduction of a vaccine that protects people is really going to close the gap," Kana says.