Skip over main navigation
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
Cleft
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Donate Join mailing list
Menu
  • About us
    • Our mission
    • Our philosophy
    • About cleft lip and palate
    • Our team
      • Our Trustees
      • Research Steering Committee
      • International Steering Committee
      • Student Ambassadors
      • International Ambassadors
    • CLEFT news
    • Newsletters
    • CLEFT Policies
  • Research
    • Our research vision
    • Research projects
    • Information for researchers
  • International projects
    • Bangladesh
    • Egypt
    • Iraq
    • The people we help
    • Online training for surgeons
  • Support our work
    • Donate
    • Give to an appeal
    • Volunteer
    • Student section
    • Partnerships
    • Trusts and foundations
  • Be a fundraiser
    • Get involved
    • Take part in an event
      • Challenge events
      • Student events
      • Events
    • Create a fundraiser page
    • In Memory
    • Our fundraisers
    • Fundraisers' stories
  • Shop
  • Team information
    • Trustees
    • Steering Committees
      • International Steering Committee
      • Research Steering Committee
    • Fundraising Committee
    • International visitors Cleft 2022
  • Admin
    • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Our mission
  1. About us
  2. Our mission

Our mission

Cleft lip and palate

Today, 1-in-700 babies in the UK are born with a cleft lip and palate, the most common form of birth defect.

The impact on a child’s life as they grow is profound. Typically, they will need at least four operations. They may also require ongoing tests, treatment or therapy. It will affect the way they look but also their speech, hearing and dental development. It can leave deep psychological scars.

In the developing world, cleft patients are frequently not operated on until later in life, if at all. As a result, they may be malnourished, and unable to talk well or hear properly. Often, they will be social outcasts.

Clefts occur when the upper lip, gum or roof of the mouth fails to join normally when a baby is in the womb. We do not know much about why they occur, though it is likely to be due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. We know some of the causes, such as the tongue preventing the two halves of the palate from joining, but in most cases there is no obvious explanation.

Our mission

We are a charity focused on providing permanent, sustainable, ways to improve cleft care in both the UK and overseas.

Supporting a variety of projects, we are helping improve the lives of people born with clefts in many different ways. Broadly speaking, they can be described in two categories.

Firstly through our sponsorship of research projects in the UK, we are helping to identify the likely causes of clefts, and to find ways in which to improve the treatment and outcomes for children born with a cleft.

And secondly our projects in other countries aim to support local medical teams to provide long-term treatment and care for people less privileged born with clefts.

Research projects

A core principle of CLEFT is to invest in research projects that study the cause and treatment of clefts. When it comes to clefts, there is still so much that is unknown.

The progression of knowledge and understanding of clefts is therefore a key component in improving the methods used by surgeons, speech therapists and other medical professionals, to treat and provide quality, long-term care for all people born with clefts, both in the UK and overseas.

Find out more about our research projects

Overseas projects

CLEFT works with local surgeons and other specialists in several lower income countries to help them develop high quality, multidisciplinary CLEFT centres.

We do this by visiting and working with local teams regularly, helping to provide education and training, and donating much-needed equipment. 

We do not send large teams to operate on a number of babies and leave after 10 days. Our visits are by selected UK cleft specialists who are invited by the local team to visit, primarily for teaching, collaboration and support.

Our goal is to support local teams so that children born with clefts in these countries will have the same opportunities of having quality cleft care as those in the UK.

Find out more about our overseas projects

Published: 30th September, 2019

Updated: 28th January, 2022

Author: Melanie Baldwin

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Latest

  • The Hay Family Challenge

    The Hay Family Challenge

    I am raising money with my family to provide support for the CLEFT bridging the gap charity, which provides long-term, sustainable ways to improve cleft care both in the UK and overseas. It supports overseas teams in developing countries to be self supporting and also raises money for cleft research.

  • Social events

    Social events

    Social events have been put on by the Cleft 2022 organisers. Details of the events is provided here.

  • Ride London 100 for CLEFT

    Ride London 100 for CLEFT

    Important work on research and care for cleft patients and families

  • David and Mahaveer Take On Ben Nevis

    David and Mahaveer Take On Ben Nevis

    We're raising money to help fund CLEFT's UK and International cleft care projects and research

Most read

  • Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery

    Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery

    We are working with Bangladeshi specialists at the new Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery to create a sustainable centre to treat children with cleft lip and palate.

  • Our mission

    Our mission

    CLEFT was established in 2007 with one aim, to help improve the lives of children born with cleft lip and palate, either by funding research into the likely causes of the condition or by helping support teams in lower and middle income countries.

  • Donate

    Donate

    You can donate or sign up to a regular donation to help us plan for the future.

  • Brian Sommerlad, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Chair of Trustees

    For over 40 years, I have been involved in operating on babies, children and adults who have been born with cleft lip and/or palate.

  • Nawrin and the C-Arm

    Nawrin and the C-Arm

    This important piece of equipment was supplied by CLEFT and is used to see moving images of the cleft palate. Nawrin is a 13 year old girl who was experiencing speech difficulties and needed the C-Arm to show the cleft team if further surgery was required.

  • The Great Bristol Run 2022

    The Great Bristol Run 2022

    This is an exciting half marathon race through Bristol and is CLEFT's first year taking part.

  • The genetics of cleft lip and palate

    The genetics of cleft lip and palate

    Investigations into the genetics of cleft lip and palate to understand more about why cleft lip and palate occurs.

  • An interview with Brian Sommerlad

    An interview with Brian Sommerlad

    This is a wonderful interview where the children ask the questions.

  • Volunteerhttps://www.cleft.org.uk/manager/news.aspx

    Volunteerhttps://www.cleft.org.uk/manager/news.aspx

    If you would like to volunteer, please complete the short form below and we will get back to you within 24 hours to discuss how you can help.

  • About us

    About us

    CLEFT was established in 2007 by cleft surgeon Brian Sommerlad - based at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, together with a former patient and a patient's grandmother.

Sign up to our mailing list

Please enter your first name
Please enter your last name
Please enter your email address Please enter a valid email address (e.g. [email protected])

Find us

Registered Office
10a Warren Estate
Lordship Road
Writtle
Chelmsford
CM1 3WT

+44 (0) 1245 421901
[email protected]

Links

  • Sitemap
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube

Registered as Charity number 1194581