An educational program to improve surgical technique, nutrition, speech treatment and dental health

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Optional donation

Operation per child                                   3000 SEK

Education doctors, nurses, speech therapists  2000 SEK

Family support (food, journeys, etc)            500 SEK

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You will receive a gift certificate if you email Torkil Rönne at torkil@cuprus.se

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A team from The Department of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic in Malmö, Skåne University Hospital, Sweden has operated children with cleft lip and palate in Vietnam since many years and has since then visited the hospital continuously for teaching surgical techniques as well as in the care of the children pre- and postoperatively. In 2019 members from Rotary Malmö Öresund visited the hospital and got insight in the function. Now this is a Rotary project with Rotary Malmö- Öresund responsible.

The Uong Bi Hospital, northeast of Hanoi, was built by SIDA (The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) in 1980. Several Swedish aid workers have worked at this hospital since then.

Hospital Staff together with the Swedish team in Uong Bi outside the hospital

The education of Vietnamese hospital staff consists of both theoretical and practical education. By performing surgery together with Swedish surgeons, the Vietnamese surgeons learn in a straightforward way.

Since many years doctors at the hospital in Uong Bi with the help of the cleft team from the Department of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic in Malmö, Skåne University Hospital, Sweden, have been trained to perform operations in children with cleft lip and palate. There is a need for continued training in more complicated surgical techniques such as surgery of the palate and jaw slit, in orthodontics and in bone transplantation.

Their mothers are accused of having caused the cleft lip and palate due to not
living according to traditions during pregnancy.

Without treatment the children often suffer from eating problems. A consequence from this is that their nutrient intake is insufficient, and they are more easily affected by diseases.

They are also hurt mentally since they are not accepted as intellectually normal developed. By treating the children with surgery and educate their families in nutrient and facts about cleft lip and palate, both the children and their mothers can be accepted by society and already during the treatment improve the situation for the child.

Often, multiple operations may be needed depending on how the cleft looks. When the children are only a couple of years old, the soft parts are corrected by surgery.

Bone transplantation is performed in children at the cleft in the jaw around the age of 7-10 years and this technique is not mastered in Vietnam. There is no training of doctors in bone transplantation or in orthodontics.

For the children to have normal speech development, treatment by a speech therapist who is missing in northern Vietnam is required.

Malnutrition occurs in about 20% of Vietnamese children. Specific deficiencies such as blood (anemia), iron, zinc, folic acid, vitamin A, and vitamin D occurs in 60% in some of these nutrients. Energy deficiency causes poor growth. Education in nutrition of professionals and parents is urgent. Folic acid deficiency in the mother before conception can cause cleft lip and palate

Our objectives