Our aid projects

Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe has projects to provide aid for children with cleft lip and palate in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Our long-term goal always is to establish a permanent treatment infrastructure. We steadily develop our projects, well beyond the initial startup phase. All our activities are tailored to take into account the conditions in the country and the individual needs of the project.

The focus countries of our efforts are India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bolivia, Peru and Vietnam. In Afghanistan, the continuation of our aid is currently uncertain due to the political situation in the country. We are currently establishing a project in Ethiopia and Somalia. Countries in which we are active on a more limited basis include Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Costa Rica.

Projects with a limited scope

In addition to our focus countries, we also provide assistance on a more limited scale in other countries. Sometimes under adverse circumstances and difficult conditions. Depending on the conditions in a country and the resulting needs, our support may also focus on fields other than surgery.

We have been active in Nicaragua since 2021, providing surgeries on a relatively small scale. The political situation is unstable, and there is sadly still considerable poverty in the country. As always, the ones who suffer the most are the children. During a surgical mission to the country by a team of doctors from Switzerland and Germany by our partners, the aid organization Nicaplast, in early 2023, we funded the treatment of an additional 23 Nicaraguan children. In addition, a local surgeon is active and provides occasional surgeries.

High crime leads to a critical security situation in Colombia, making our work more difficult.

Dr. Dr. Oliver Blume and Gunther Au-Balbach have been volunteering for Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe e.V. for many years now. Since 2009, the two oral and maxillofacial surgeons have carried out numerous aid missions in East African countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. This enabled us to build up an autonomously working African team that is currently active in Rwanda and Tanzania. A first surgical mission in West Africa took our two Africa experts to Sierra Leone in early 2023. After the civil war and the Ebola epidemic, Sierra Leone seemed to be on the right track towards reconstruction. After a successful start with 14 operations, we signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health in September 2023 as the basis for an official project start. As a result of a coup in November 2023, this positive development came to a halt for now.

In Costa Rica, we support a small relief organization providing nonsurgery care to children with cleft. The Asociación LPH (https://www.asociacionlph.org/) supports the affected families and their children before and after surgery. The surgery itself is funded by the government in Costa Rica, so unlike our other project countries we do not need to step in to provide the funds.