A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate contains an opening into the nose. The term orofacial cleft refers to either condition or to both occurring together. These disorders can result in feeding problems, speech problems, hearing problems, and frequent ear infections. Less than half the time the condition is associated with other disorders.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a surgical specialty focusing on reconstructive surgery of the face, facial trauma surgery, the mouth, head and neck, and jaws, as well as facial plastic surgery including cleft lip and cleft palate surgery.
Shriners Hospitals for Children, commonly known as Shriners Children's, is a network of non-profit children's hospitals and other pediatric medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients' ability to pay. Care for children is usually provided until age 18, although in some cases, it may be extended to age 21.
Mercy Ships is an international charity based non-governmental organization that operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world, providing surgical care and surgical education in Africa, community development projects, community health education, mental health programs, agriculture projects, and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Its headquarters are in Garden Valley, Texas.
Operation Smile is a nonprofit medical service organization founded in 1982 by husband and wife William P. Magee Jr. and Kathleen (Kathy) S. Magee. It is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Smile Train is a nonprofit organization and charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates. Headquartered in New York City and founded in 1999, Smile Train provides free corrective cleft surgery in 87 countries, training local doctors and providing hospital funding for the procedures.
ReSurge International, formerly known as Interplast, is an international humanitarian organization that provides free reconstructive surgery in developing countries, primarily to children with cleft lip and palate and burn scar contractures.
William P. Magee Jr. an American plastic and craniofacial surgeon, founded Operation Smile in 1982, with his wife, Kathleen S. Magee, B.S.N., M.Ed., M.S.W., and serves as the organization's Chief Executive Officer. Operation Smile is a private, non-profit volunteer medical services organization providing reconstructive surgery and related health care to indigent children and young adults in developing countries and the United States.
CURE International, based in Grand Rapids, MI, is a Christian nonprofit organization that owns and operates eight charitable children's hospitals around the world. CURE provides medical care to pediatric patients with orthopedic, reconstructive plastic, and neurological conditions. The organization's stated mission is to "heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God." The organization currently operates hospitals in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, the Philippines, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
McKay McKinnon is an American physician specializing in plastic surgery. He works in Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida.
Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute is a private, non-profit Christian minority medical college, hospital and research institute located at Thrissur in Kerala, India. The establishment is administered by the Jubilee Mission Hospital Trust, a charitable organization under the Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur.
In the Philippines, the Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF) is an organization of Kapampangans living outside the region. It was founded in 1987 by 35 people who were inspired by President Corazon Aquino; in 2012, 11 of its founders remained. The KDF has created a rural-industrialization program known as RICH and has provided social and health services to poor residents of Pampanga through its HELP program, with assistance from international and non-governmental organizations and government agencies.
Mending Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides surgeries to children across the world while training local medical communities to become self-sustaining. It brings surgical mission teams of doctors, nurses and volunteers who donate their time and services to travel to developing countries to perform procedures that range from pediatric open-heart, neuro, ENT, orthopedic or general surgeries on impoverished or orphaned children while establishing sustainable teaching programs. Since 2006, it has helped thousands of children in 54 countries around the world, including the United States. The organization currently operates in Burbank, California.
The Children's Surgical Centre (CSC) is a non-profit, non-governmental, and non-religious surgical hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and registered as a 501(c)(3) in the United States. Founded in 1998, the centre aims to improve the quality of life for disabled children and adults by providing free rehabilitative surgery.
Operation Smile China Medical Mission (OSCMM) is a non-profit organisation that provides reconstructive surgery for the underprivileged children with cleft lips and / or palates in China.
The Overseas Plastic Surgery Appeal is a registered charity in the UK, that exists to provide free facial surgery for poor children and young adults in Pakistan. The OPSA team operate on facial abnormalities including cleft lip and palate.
Alliance for Smiles (AfS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 in San Francisco. They provide free surgical repairs for cleft lip and cleft palate, with missions mostly in the continents of Asia and Africa. They also work to develop treatment centers where continuous follow-up care can be provided.
MV Global Mercy is the world's largest civilian hospital ship, constructed as the first purpose-built floating hospital for humanitarian organization Mercy Ships. The contract to build the vessel was awarded to Stena RoRo of Göteborg, Sweden in 2014. Construction was done by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) at the Tianjin Xingang Shipyard, Tianjin, China and was completed in 2021. The Global Mercy sailed to Antwerp, Belgium in 2021 for outfitting. In February 2022, the vessel sailed to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for a two-week public relations stopover where it was unveiled to visitors for the first time. In May 2022 the ship sailed on its maiden voyage to Africa where it joined the other vessel in the Mercy Ships fleet, the Africa Mercy, in Dakar, Senegal to begin operating as a floating training center for the first time.
Hirji Sorab Adenwalla was an Indian missionary who joined the Jubilee Mission in Kerala, India, as a surgeon. Adenwalla turned what was originally a small dispensary into a 1500-bedded medical college and research institute called the Jubilee Mission Medical College. Adenwalla specialized in cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries, providing treatment at low or no cost to more than 21,000 patients. Adenwalla contributed several new techniques to the cleft lip surgery, such as a method to avoid a vermillion notch, a protocol for cleft lip nose correction in unilateral cleft lips, and a procedure for septal repositioning.
Global Smile Foundation (GSF) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, U.S., that provides free comprehensive cleft care, including surgery and dental services, to children in low to middle-income countries. Additionally, the foundation offers education and training for healthcare providers specializing in cleft treatment.
