Reaction to the birth of a child with cleft lip or cleft palate in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Cleft lip and palate (CLP) is often a distressful abnormality for both mother and child. In our setting, CLP is generally associated with witchcraft or ancestral spirits. The mother is often accused of infidelity during pregnancy. We wanted to determine the feelings of parents and the wider public towards CLP babies, to establish what parents believed were the causes of CLP and to establish the postpartum marital status. One hundred and twenty-four parents were prospectively included in the study. They were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. One hundred and fifteen mothers and four fathers said they loved their babies. Thirty-eight parents attributed CLP to witchcraft. Nineteen percent of the mothers were divorced. The responses to our questionnaire show that although CLP babies are loved by their parents, the condition is associated with stigma and superstition.