What is Cleft?

It affects the poorest of the poor throughout the globe.

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Sathia – A real success story!

Sathia – once a severely disfigured girl, now a young woman of promise.

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Padmavathi – A dream became reality!

The story of Padmavathi is the story of a strong girl. It is a story which says much about what the CCI aid project actually delivers. From a cleft-child with no future to one of the best trained, pretty young women.

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Ranga – how it all started

How a big story in Switzerland started with a small boy from India.

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My vision for cleft-children

Prof. Sailer's big goal: to give cleft-children a good future.

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The story of a family in Mangalore

Following the birth of her baby, 26-year-old Sharmila returned to her mother's house - in rural India a very wide-spread tradition.

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Visiting a cleft camp

How we reach people in distant rural areas of India.

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Instructions for better outcomes: the Sailer protocol

Prof. Dr. Dr. Hermann Sailer specified his guidelines for cleft surgeons

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An encounter with Sir Peter Ustinov

A chance encounter resulted in a friendship and co-operation.

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When little Surya sees his reflection in water it warms the cockles of his heart.

When Surya now sees his reflection in water, he is warmed to the cockles of his heart. Every child should be happy when they see their reflection.

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Ritu, a visit back home

Ritu can also smile, at last! Only when she was eight years old was the young girl allowed to come to the Cleft-centre for treatment.

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A visit to the Order of Mother Teresa

Joint aid in the spirit of Mother Teresa CCI enters into a collaboration in Kolkata with the order of the Nobel peace prize holder.

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Reasons

What are the causes of cleft lips and palates? How malnutrition and genetics can cause clefts,

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The forming of clefts lips and palates

Development deficits during pregnancy

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Cleft lip, jaw and palate types

Depending upon which developmental defect took place and when during the pregnancy, 14 different cleft forms may occur.

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Treatment

Luckily there is help at hand: How we can treat clefts.

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Big visit to Mangalore

Prof. Sailer still talks of the day when he and Dr. Shetty saw and examined 543 patients.

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Establishing of training places in all centres

Top requirements in theory and practice - how we train doctors at our Cleft-centres to become specialists.

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Opening the first centre in Mangalore

Our Cleft-centre in Mangalore, established in 2001, developed under the leadership of Prof. Krishna Shama Rao into a clinic focussing on cranio-facial malformation surgery. In the summer of 2007 Prof. Rao passed on the activities to his young colleague and successor, Dr. Dr. Vikram Shetty.

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Opening of a second centre in Hyderabad

Just a few months later, CCI opened its second Cleft-centre in Hyderabad

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Opening of a third centre in Chennai

With a TV room for small patients - the Cleft-centre in Chennai, India

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Opening the fourth centre in Mumbai

Speech therapy for integration - our Cleft-Centre in Mumbai has a particularly good speech therapy centre.

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Opening of Cleft-centre in Timisoara

It was in the Cleft-centre at Timisoara that Dr. Urtila operated the young Gabriela, one of his most difficult cases to date.

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Opening the Cleft-centre in Lahore, Pakistan

Our Cleft-centre in Lahore, Pakistan, helps some of the poorest children in the

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Opening of the Cleft-centre in Chengannur

A Cleft-centre with a big history - the St. Thomas Hospital in Chengannur

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Our help for the poorest of the poor in India – the founding of our foundation

On her trips through India Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer encountered people with cleft disfigurements for the first time.

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Jamal

The mother gives her son all her love and strength - and Jamal becomes healthy.

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Misbah

A family in poverty - but now they have three healthy children

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Training doctors (transfer of know how)

Know-how transfer and training have proven their worth - doctors return to their home countries as highly qualified cleft surgeons.

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Doctors from Niger learn from Indian

Transferring experience, exchanging knowledge - our concept for the treatment of

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