Cause Of Cleft Lip / Palate, Still Under Research – NGO

Smile Train, a non-profit and charity organisation that is providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lip and palate, says research is ongoing to better understand the condition.
The organisation’s Programme Director, West/Central Africa, Mrs Nkeiruka Obi, made this known in Keffi, Nasarawa State, yesterday at a three-day Media Workshop with the theme “The Role of the Media as Tool for Reporting Cleft in Nigeria.’’
The Tide’s source reports that cleft lip and cleft palate are openings or splits in the upper lip, the roof of the mouth (palate) or both. Cleft lip and cleft palate result when facial structures that are developing in an unborn baby don’t close completely.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common birth defects, which commonly occur as isolated birth defects but are also associated with many inherited genetic conditions or syndromes.
The Smile Train programme director, who, however, said that the cause of cleft lip/palate was not clearly known, noted that most experts agreed that the causes were multifactorial and may include genetic predisposition and environmental issues.