ABOUT OPERATION CLEFT AUSTRALIA
Operation Cleft is a unique Rotary project that offers free cleft repair surgery to underprivileged children in Bangladesh. Sadly, cleft repair surgery is not covered under the overburdened public health care system in Bangladesh. Consequently, thousands of children grow up with untreated cleft lip and/or palate, which ostracises them from society. They often suffer from ear, nose, and throat infections, depression, and malnutrition.
By surgically repairing the cleft lip and/or palate of these children, we provide them with the opportunity to lead a normal life, obtain an education, build a social network, and reach their full potential as productive members of their community. The cost of each operation is just $AUD350.
Operation Cleft also supports the development of speech and language therapy, a relatively new service in Bangladesh, mainly limited to Dhaka. Our focus is on making speech therapy more accessible and promoting it as a post-operative program to achieve optimal outcomes, especially in young children after cleft palate repair.
Over the last three years, we have been working with community health workers, who offer basic advice to families on improving their child’s speech post-surgery.
Ideally, we like to operate on children when they are young and have not yet developed the nasal speech patterns that require correction. However, children with cleft palates are prone to infection, making it impossible to operate on them when they are first present for surgery. Instead, we must wait until they are healthy enough to tolerate the anesthetic.
We are proud of the work we have accomplished and the lives we have changed. Thank you for your continued support of Operation Cleft.
OUR BACKGROUND
EVERY FACE TELLS A STORY
A simple solution to a serious problem
Operation Cleft Australia is committed to improving the lives of underprivileged children in Bangladesh, by providing free cleft lip and palate repair surgery to those born with this condition.
Many young families in Bangladesh live on or below the poverty line – less than US$2 a day. They lead simple, village lives, where everything revolves around the extended family group. More than 5,000 babies are born with cleft lip and/or palate conditions each year in Bangladesh. These babies are often sickly and malnourished due to feeding problems.
If these cleft conditions are left untreated, these children will suffer both physically and emotionally, and they face a life of torment, poor health, isolation, and illiteracy. Frequently both children and their families are ostracised by their communities, and many family units break down due to the stress and peer pressure.
Sadly 12% of babies born with clefts and whose clefts are not repaired die before the age of five.
Since 2005, Operation Cleft Australia, an international humanitarian project of the Rotary Club of Box Hill Central, Victoria, has provided around 1500 free cleft repair surgeries annually to the underprivileged in Bangladesh. Our objective in going forward with this program is to:
- Increase the number of surgeries we can provide annually
- Increase the number of surgeons operating for us
- Broaden the geographical spread of surgical camps across Bangladesh
- Assist in the development of newly established plastic surgery units in provincial cities
- Encourage sustainability
- Encourage the development of plastic surgery training programs across Bangladesh
With each cleft repair operation conducted in surgical camps throughout Bangladesh by top Bangladeshi plastic surgeons,
a child and his or her family now have the opportunity to lead a normal life, and the child has an opportunity to receive an education, build a social network and to reach his or her full potential as a contributing member of their community.
Operation Cleft Australia’s mission is to continue to provide these free, life-altering surgeries to those in Bangladesh most in need.