Welcome to Cleft Vietnam!

What is Cleft Vietnam?

Cleft Vietnam is a cooperation of international and Vietnamese NGOs and hospitals. Our goal is to provide free comprehensive treatment to all Vietnamese with cleft lip and palate, a common birth defect. To achieve this, we raise donations and use them to perform surgeries at our partner hospitals in Ho-Chi-Minh City and Hanoi. Our ultimate goal is to give all needy patients throughout the country optimal cleft treatment. In 2019, we funded and performed 311 cleft surgeries in Vietnam.



Who we are

Cleft Vietnam is an initiative of two international NGOs, the German Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe (DCKH) and the Taiwanese Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation (NCF), and three Vietnamese partner organizations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Our goal is to give all needy Vietnamese with cleft access to the best possible treatment.



The aid structure

The NGOs Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe (DCKH), with head office in Germany, and Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation (NCF), headquarterd in Taiwan, work with the Vietnamese National Children’s Hospital Hanoi and the Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. DCKH additionally has a seperate partnership with the Center for Researching and Aiding Smile Operation (OSCA), working at the An Việt Hospital in Hanoi.

DCKH has been active in Vietnam since 2009, and NCF since 1998. Both organizations share a long-standing dedication to supporting people with cleft lip and/or palate with great love, care and passion. The collaboration has made it possible to expand the support for Vietnamese cleft patients, increasing the number of operations performed and reducing administrative costs. The international partners raise awareness of cleft, collect donations, and use them to fund the cleft-related work of the Vietnamese partners.

The local partners perform the cleft treatment in Vietnam and train Vietnamese medical personnel. DCKH and NCF subsidize treatments for the poor, including transportation to the hospital, pay the Vietnamese medical personnel, and finance a local project coordinator who educates patients or their parents, arranges follow-up, and supervises use of funds. OSCA has performed over 2,500 cleft operations since 2009, and the Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Hospital provides surgeries, speech therapy, and orthodontic services to more than 200 children each year.

You can find more information about the organisations here: