Sustainable Cleft Care: A Comprehensive Model Based on the Global Smile Foundation Experience.
INTRODUCTION
Clefts of the lip and palate are leading congenital facial anomalies. Underserved patients with these facial differences lack access to medical care, surgical expertise, prenatal care, or psychological support. Moreover, the disease results in significant economic strains on patients and their families. While surgical outreach programs have attempted to fill this void, significant challenges facing international comprehensive cleft care persist.


OBJECTIVE
Propose a path toward international sustainable cleft care based on the Global Smile Foundation experience.


RESULTS
International sustainable comprehensive cleft care can be achieved by regulating surgical outreach programs. Regulation of these missions would ensure standardized care and encourage stakeholders to cooperate and adequately allocate funding and resources. Capacity building can be achieved through "diagonal" cleft care delivery models, multidisciplinary workshops, fellowship programs, research and quality assurance, as well as leveraging emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality.


CONCLUSION
International comprehensive cleft care requires continuous collaborative efforts between visiting and local teams as well as international and national organizations. Standardizing and regulating current practices as well as promoting capacity building initiatives can contribute to sustainable cleft care.
['Chahine|Elsa M|EM|0000-0002-4140-201X', 'Kantar|Rami S|RS|0000-0002-2245-2054', 'Kassam|Serena N|SN|0000-0001-5418-3568', 'Vyas|Raj M|RM|', 'Ghotmi|Lilian H|LH|', 'Haddad|Anthony G|AG|0000-0001-6698-2439', 'Hamdan|Usama S|US|']
D002971:Cleft Lip D002972:Cleft Palate D006801:Humans
sustainability outreach programs missions capacity building augmented reality cleft lip and palate cleft workshops global surgery