Face the Future had at its first mission to the newly opened West African Institute for Special Surgery (WAISS) in Accra, Ghana in January 2025. This hospital has been developed by Dr. Kofi Boahene, a Ghanaian-American Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Boahene has been on numerous Face the Future missions, this leading to our new collaboration in Ghana.
Our team included three head and neck reconstructive surgeons, a urologist and an anaesthesiologist which performed multiple procedures on 16 patients suffering from major head and tumours and trauma, and three patients with urologic diseases. More than 30 patients were seen in consultation.
Virtual education presentations were made to medical students at the University of Ghana in Accra, and Ghanaian surgeons participated in hands-on surgical training. Future plans include expanding the scope and number of missions as WAISS is further developed in the coming year.
Number of Procedures/Operations:
35 to 45
Number of Patients Consulted:
35 to 40
Size of Mission:
6-10 surgeons, anaesthesiologists and nurses
Conditions Treated:
Cancerous tumours of the head and neck, including advanced laryngeal cancer; hemangiomas; keloid scars; and, facial trauma. Also renal and prostatic tumours, and other urologic conditions