Donation account:
Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
Account number: 84 84 200 - Bank identification code 251 205 10
IBAN: DE46251205100008484200
BIC: BFSWDE33HAN
Further information
+49 (0) 761 137 976 0
- The illustration shows where OSCA-run surgery campaigns took place in the last couple of years (not complete).
From 2006 to 2008 the German Cleft Children’s Aid Society supported surgery campaigns led by German surgeons in the cities of Huë and Da Nang. Since 2009 we are concentrating on cooperation with OSCA (Center for Researching and Aiding Smile Operation) which is located in Hanoi. The NGO was founded in 2007 by an association of Vietnamese surgeons, physicians, therapists and nurses. OSCA has made it its task to treat cleft children according to our standards in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary manner. The team from Hanoi works on a voluntary basis in the surgery campaigns which are held every four to six weeks all over the country and thereby enable the start into a new life for more than 400 cleft children. The mobile aid activities even reach children in very remote villages who otherwise would never have the opportunity of receiving medical treatment.
Special emphasis is given by us and our partner organisation to the well-founded training of the cleft surgeons and to the care of the families before and after surgery. OSCA’s members always have an open ear for the parents of the little patients whenever concerns are expressed or questions arise and can thus ensure trust and an optimum in aftercare.
New to our support is the training and deployment of functional therapists in Vietnam. In spring of 2011 the training of Vietnam’s first myofunctional therapist for the furthering of speech development began in cooperation with the University of Basel, Switzerland. The method of myofunctional therapy is especially promising, as it furthers the linguistic ability independently from a specific language. It is easy to teach to local supporters and parents and can be practiced at home. Especially for cleft children from the more remote villages who cannot regularly visit the centres it is a real chance for them to be able to learn to talk properly later on.
In October of 2011 OSCA - in cooperation with the German Cleft Children’s Aid Society - organised the first conference on cleft lips and palates with great success! This brings us one step closer to the founding of Vietnam’s first cleft centre that can offer comprehensive surgery and therapy.
We are planning a centre in which we can also perform the complex follow-up operations, provide myofunctional therapy necessary for speech development and where can offer the possibility of including the treatment of ear, nose and throat ailments as well as orthodontic measures.
Further information
Special emphasis is given by us and our partner organisation to the well-founded training of the cleft surgeons and to the care of the families before and after surgery. OSCA’s members always have an open ear for the parents of the little patients whenever concerns are expressed or questions arise and can thus ensure trust and an optimum in aftercare.
New to our support is the training and deployment of functional therapists in Vietnam. In spring of 2011 the training of Vietnam’s first myofunctional therapist for the furthering of speech development began in cooperation with the University of Basel, Switzerland. The method of myofunctional therapy is especially promising, as it furthers the linguistic ability independently from a specific language. It is easy to teach to local supporters and parents and can be practiced at home. Especially for cleft children from the more remote villages who cannot regularly visit the centres it is a real chance for them to be able to learn to talk properly later on.
In October of 2011 OSCA - in cooperation with the German Cleft Children’s Aid Society - organised the first conference on cleft lips and palates with great success! This brings us one step closer to the founding of Vietnam’s first cleft centre that can offer comprehensive surgery and therapy.
We are planning a centre in which we can also perform the complex follow-up operations, provide myofunctional therapy necessary for speech development and where can offer the possibility of including the treatment of ear, nose and throat ailments as well as orthodontic measures.
Further information
Cleft lips and palates: a common occurrence in Vietnam
In Vietnam an especially high percentage of children are born with cleft deformations. This is, among other things, due to the high contamination of dioxins that the country was exposed to during the Vietnam War. The surgery of cleft children by foreign teams of surgeons has a long tradition in Vietnam. Since the 1980s a large number of children affected by clefts received the procedure. Indigenous and sustainable structures in the country itself were, however, not established. In cooperation with the Vietnamese association OSCA the German Cleft Children’s Aid Society is successfully promoting the sustainable creation of local structures which include the necessary on-site aftercare.
Join us in our help
Help us to enable the surgery and aftercare of cleft children in Vietnam and in our support of our partner organisation OSCA to create sustainable structures for the treatment of the affected children.
