It is with great pleasure that we announce the publication of the Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe Annual Report 2021. The year 2021 was very exciting for us. In 2020, the pandemic had a massive impact on our work. Many of our project countries were hit very hard, and many cleft surgeries had to be cancelled due to lockdowns, overburdened hospitals, and lack of medical supplies. This meant that thousands of children who we would otherwise have been able to treat were left without treatment and had to live with their untreated clefts – sad and stressful for the children and their families, and frustrating for us as people who want to help.
In 2021, we were then faced with the question of whether these new difficulties would be the norm from now on, or whether things would get better. And fortunately things developed more than positively! Our final tally for the year 2021, for which our annual report is now available in German and English, is 6878 cleft operations – more even than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
In India, we succeeded in offering over 3000 cleft surgeries for the first time ever in 2021. Our project in Bangladesh is developing very dynamically, with two new young surgeons in training and almost 1500 operations provided to patients. Our partners in Pakistan provided over 1000 surgeries to their patients and expanded their offerings of additional therapies in the spirit of comprehensive cleft care. In Bolivia, with now four partner teams, we are one of the main providers of care for cleft children from poor families in the country. And there have also been exciting developments in Peru, Vietnam, East Africa and Afghanistan.
But our help is made possible not only abroad, but also here in Germany. Our annual report is also a chance to give thanks to the German donors and volunteers who make our work possible in the first place. We introduce a few and say “Thank you!” from the bottom of our hearts to them and all the many, many others.
We hope you and perhaps your loved ones will enjoy an entertaining and colorful look at our work in 2021!
In 2021, thanks to our tireless and dedicated staff in the project countries and our generous donors, we have been able to once again expand and deepen our ability to help children with cleft lip and palate around the world. We now go into our 20th anniversary this fall with great confidence and curiosity about what lies ahead. A very heartfelt thank you! to you for your interest in our work and we wish you an exciting read!
The annual report is available as a PDF in German and English.
