Aktion Lächeln in Kambodscha - Ärzte der Welt e.V.

Cleft lip, jaw and palate
Cleft lip, jaw and palate, known
colloquially as harelip, are among the
most common congenital malformations
worldwide. In the West they occur
with an incidence of about 1in 500
among children surviving birth. Figures
are far higher in the Asian countries.
The estimation is about 1 in 300, or
even more.The causes here are to be
found in the genetic material on the
one hand, but also external influences,
such as the use of “Agent Orange” defoliation
toxin, are under discussion.
Together with aesthetic deformation
through cleft lips and malformation of
the nose, a decisive role is played by
functional inhibition, which makes normal
development impossible. A child with
a cleft lip, jaw and palate is from birth
unable to eat normally because the
food passes through the nose; the child
is unable to swallow properly because
the cleft soft palate cannot touch the rear
wall of the throat. Food often finds its
way into the respiratory tract,
which leads to coughing, vomiting and
infection.This causes many children to
die in infancy because without special
attention given by their parents
they cannot be sufficiently nourished.
Moreover, middle ear deafness as a
result of middle-ear inflammation often
occurs from the time of birth through
the lack of the middle ear ventilation
effect of the cleft soft palate function,
which with the longer existence of a cleft
is often subsequently unable to recover.
The most obvious stigmatizing effect of
the cleft palate, however, is the noticeably
incomprehensible speech of those
affected. Speech development is already
greatly disturbed by a cleft organ, which
is made worse by deafness.These
people are often thought to be mentally
handicapped, although it is not normally
the case.
A child that is correctly treated, as is
usual in the West, can be fed and together
with an unnoticeable appearance has
almost normal opportunities to learn to
speak intelligibly and with time to
develop normal hearing. A child treated
too late, or not treated at all, remains
permanently severely injured.
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