Cleft lip and cleft palate are developmental anomalies. A cleft lip is a condition where one or two gaps remain in the upper lip of the newborn baby. A cleft palate is a condition where the roof of the oral cavity has failed to join completely in the midline. A cleft baby may suffer from cleft lip and / or palate.

Cleft lip and cleft palate is the second most common congenital anomaly in Bangladesh. It is a universal problem. A cleft baby suffers aesthetically, functionally and socially and after being grown up psychologically. Female clefts usually suffer more and mostly remain unmarried. Parents and other family members also suffer both socially and psychologically. A successful reconstructive surgery allows an isolated cleft baby to enjoy a completely normal life.

 

Incidence:

Bangladesh is a developing country. Majority of its population are poor. The incidence of cleft baby in our country is one in 500 live births. So, approximately 5000 cleft babies born every year with isolated clefts and
majority of these babies born in poor families.

 

Clefts related problems:

a) Anatomic Deformity

b) Functional
- Feeding
- Recurrent URTI
- Middle ear infection
- Hearing
- Speech
- Growth

c) Dentition

d) Social & Psychological

 

Treatment Facilities in Bangladesh:

Majority cleft babies require multiple operations to correct all the problems. Having aesthetic values all these operations are preferably best done by qualified plastic surgeons having adequate experience in cleft surgery.
At present a maximum of 2000 cleft operations are being done every year. The rest remain untreated and is added to those hundreds of thousands waiting in the backlog.
Cleft children also need support from Speech therapist and Orthodontist. In Bangladesh there is no access for these children to such supports.

 

Aims:

To help unfortunate poor cleft children irrespective of age, sex and religion

To provide safe and good quality primary surgery through team approach to achieve expected cosmetic and functional results.

To provide free Speech therapy and Orthodontic service

To build network with government and NGO sectors to run educational and training programs like symposiums and workshop.

To create social awareness regarding timely treatment by appropriate surgeons.
To establish a center of excellence where surgeons with track record of good surgery can work together to provide free surgery and related treatment to at least two thousand cleft children every year from all over Bangladesh.