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Cleft Lip & Cleft Palate

Every day, babies are born with cleft lip and cleft palate, a condition that can cause early death. For babies with access to medical care and doctor’s offices, this condition can be corrected early, with little interruption to normal development.

However, many little ones that are born in the poorest regions of the world aren’t so fortunate.

Cleft lip and cleft palate affects an infant’s ability to nurse. The hole in the lip (cleft lip) or the roof of the mouth (cleft palate) makes it extremely difficult to latch on or to swallow the nutrients they need to thrive and grow.

CBM performs more than 2,000 cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries each year, making it one of the leading organizations reaching out to children born with this visible disability. 

Surgical intervention mends the damage that cleft creates, but finding children who need our help is critical. It is in the best interest of the child to perform a cleft lip or palate surgery early in their young life. (CBM has help those also needing it later in life, read Omari's story.)

To find these children, often hidden away because of their appearance, CBM utilizes its network of community based rehabilitation workers familiar with the population and with connections in the community.

Related

• Case Study, Omari

Prevention & Treatment

CBM is committed to establishing community-based rehabilitation programs for children and adults. By reaching out to these people, we can enable them in vocational, agricultural, and workshop training.

Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is a strategy within community development for the rehabilitation and equalization of opportunities and social integration of all people with disabilities. CBR is implemented through the combined efforts of disabled people themselves, their families and the appropriate health, education, vocational and social services.

CBR is a community development approach that looks at the whole person, not just the impairment. It seeks to change and overcome challenges present in social and physical environment and enables people with disabilities to be as personally independent as possible. CBR also enables the disabled to have social relationships and live as part of their community, contributing to their own livelihood. Through our CBR efforts, we are able to move a person from a life of exclusion to one of inclusion.

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