About Us

Palestinian Cleft Society Mission Statement

To provide timely, comprehensive, compassionate medical, dental, and surgical care for children with clefts on the West Bank and in Gaza.

The delivered care will be coordinated between all Palestinian health care workers and foreign volunteers. Medical care will involve genetics assessment, follow-up of speech development, and the psychological health of each child. Dental care will involve all aspects of oral health, orthodontic care before and after bone grafting, and any pre-surgical orthodontic care prior to Orthognathic surgery. Surgical care will involve repair of the cleft lip and palate, appropriate placement and follow-up of myringotomy (ear) tubes; bone grafting of the alveolar cleft, repair of palate fistulas and surgical correction of speech abnormalities, and Orthognathic surgery.

The care we deliver will be multi-disciplinary, and will involve the specialties of Speech, Psychology, Genetics, Pediatric Dentistry, Orthodontics, Prosthodontics, Oral Maxillofacial, Otolaryngology, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Pediatric Surgery, Surgery, Business Leaders, and  Health Administrators. Communication between these specialties will be expected and encouraged. We will attempt to provide cleft care that will be a model for health care on the West Bank and in Gaza.

Founding of the Palestinian Cleft Society

The Palestinian Cleft Society was founded on December 9th, 2007. The inaugural meeting was held at the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah. Over 100 people attended the meeting. The Palestinian Minister of Health, Anan Masri, spoke briefly, as did multiple speakers from the West Bank, and Gaza, as well as from the United States and Europe. In all there were 15 speakers, with topics ranging from surgical techniques for repair of the cleft lip and palate, timing for alveolar bone grafting, the need for careful speech therapy following palate repair, as well as orthodontic and dental care of patients with cleft lip and palate.

The meeting was sponsored by SmileTrain, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and was considered a major success. On-going work of the Palestinian Cleft Society has included creation of the PCS website, which was launched in April 2008. A Cleft Standards Conference and a Cleft Registry Conference have been arranged on May 10th at the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah. The Cleft Standards Conference will discuss minimal standards for all disciplines associated with care for children with clefts on the West Bank and Gaza. The meeting will include Pediatricians, Pediatric Dentists, Orthodontists, Oral Maxillofacial surgeons, Otolaryngologists, Plastic Surgeons, Pediatric Surgeons, Psychologists, Hospital Administrators, and Business leaders. The Cleft Registry Conference will discuss the need to form a database for all children with clefts on the West Bank and Gaza.