Grant for Project Harar

SASBAH

HFCT was pleased to award a further grant to Project Harar which provides cleft lip and palate treatment to children across Ethiopia.

Project Harar

Since 2001 Project Harar has worked in the poorest and most remote areas of Ethiopia to provide access to treatment for young patients with cleft lip and palate.

Project Harar's cleft programme is delivered in Ethiopia by an Ethiopian Programme team who are experts in their field. There is a lack of awareness that a cleft condition is treatable. Project Harar strives to break social stigma, working with community leaders and local health clinics to provide information and access to treatment for cleft lip and palate.

Services

Project Harar offers a range of services, including:

- Tackling stigma and social exclusion

Surgical treatment enables children who were ostracised and denied education to return to their communities, attend school, and build full, independent lives.

- Delivering complex surgical missions

Annual complex surgical missions have treated over 500 severely facially disfigured patients since 2011 while strengthening local medical capacity.

- Improving nutrition for affected children

Supporting malnourished babies and young children with cleft lip and palate to overcome feeding difficulties and reach the minimum weight required for surgery.

- Providing speech and language therapy

Offering post-surgical speech and language therapy and are expanding community-based services so remote patients can access vital support for communication and schooling.

- Training health and social workers

Training more than 10,200 health and social workers to identify, refer, and challenge stigma around cleft, increasing access to care nationwide.

- Partnering with the Ministry of Health

Through sustained advocacy, cleft lip and palate is now recognised as a national health priority, with Project Harar formally acknowledged as a key government partner.