Innovate Global Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: Cleft Lip and Palate Charity Database

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Surgical Care
• Non-governmental Organizations

Background:

• Growing interest in global surgery highlights the critical role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) surgical care.
• A centralized registry is proposed to enhance coordination of global surgical volunteerism and address unmet surgical disease burdens.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive database cataloging organizations involved in cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) care.
• To support improved planning, collaboration, and research in global CLP surgical initiatives.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of The Plastic Surgery Foundation, Smile Train, Wikipedia, Google, and NGO lists.
• Secondary website review for inclusion criteria verification and data extraction.
• Classification of organizations into surgical or non-surgical care providers.

Main Results:

• 30 out of 31 reviewed organizations met inclusion criteria for the CLP database.
• Surgical NGOs utilized various outreach approaches (diagonal, vertical, horizontal); non-surgical NGOs primarily used horizontal approaches.
• Organizations' offices are distributed globally, with 43% operating in multiple countries, often with multidisciplinary teams and host institution collaborations.

Conclusions:

• This database represents the most extensive collection of CLP organizations to date.
• The publicly available list aims to inform surgical care planning and foster collaboration.
• The database is intended to promote further research in the field of cleft lip and palate care.