Circle of Cleft Professionals (CoCP)

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S4CCC

CoCP Vaccine Equity Declaration

The Circle of Cleft Professionals (CoCP) is a coalition of the world’s leading cleft lip and palate organizations. We work with thousands of health workers around the globe to support health outcomes for infants, children, and adults affected by cleft.

Worldwide, over 150,000 babies are born with cleft each year. These individuals need timely access to nutrition services, surgical care, oral health and orthodontic care, as well as speech therapy to prevent life-disability, morbidity, and premature death.

In a recent global study of cleft professionals in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), nearly 80% report a distressing decrease in the number of patients accessing critical cleft care due to the pandemic.

Though vaccines are now being distributed in more than 161 countries and territories across the world, vaccination has barely begun in the majority of LMICs.

We must prioritize rapid vaccination, beginning with health workers, to save lives and stop the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. With new variants emerging, vaccine equity is not only a moral imperative — it is a matter of global security and our shared future.

In this Year of the Health and Care Worker, we stand in solidarity with all suffering through the struggles of the pandemic. We are in complete support of the WHO’s Vaccine Equity Declaration, and urge policymakers to prioritize health care professionals within national vaccine distribution to enable them to care for all patients and their communities safely.

We are a worldwide network of cleft professionals and cleft charity leaders with an interest in promoting Comprehensive Cleft Care (CCC) in resource-constrained contexts.

The objectives of the Circle of Cleft Professionals (CoCP) are to:

Facilitate collaboration and networking among Cleft Professionals with an interest in multidisciplinary care in resource-constrained contexts.
Communicate the impact and learning occurring within Comprehensive Cleft Care (CCC) projects.
Support local teams’ growth in implementing CCC.

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What do we mean by Comprehensive Cleft Care (CCC)?

Why join the CoCP?

The Circle of Cleft Professionals is free to join. Members have access to:

Webinars: Exclusive access to monthly webinars, led by world-renowned cleft professionals. See examples of our previous webinars here.

CoCP Newsletter: Receive bi-annual Newsletters designed to: summarize project learnings and results, provide updates from CoCP partner organizations, and spotlight CoCP members and CCC teams.
View our latest Newsletter here.

Discussion Forum: CoCP members are invited to participate in our Slack forum, dedicated to facilitating discussions and questions among CoCP members from across the globe.

Resources: Members have the opportunity to access and share resources and results on the CoCP Resources. View the Resources here.

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Upcoming Webinars & Events

June 17 | Speech Therapy During COVID-19: What’s Next?

Resources for Cleft Professionals

All CoCP Members have access to the CoCP Resources, which includes articles, project updates, stories, and links shared for cleft professionals. CoCP Members also have the opportunity to share their own research or publications in the CoCP Resources.

To learn more, email info@cleftcircle.org

Access CoCP Resources

Member Stories & Updates

Resources for Speech Therapy in Ethiopia

Transforming Faces announces the creation of the very first SLT training video materials available in two of the widely spoken languages in Ethiopia. These speech therapy training resources were designed by SLT expert, Dr. Cate Crowley. Yekatit 12 Hospital Medical College’s Speech Team of Berhane Abera and Hirut Menguistu also feature prominently in these resources.

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