About Us

Cleft Prevention International Foundation (CPIF) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with headquarters in San Francisco, USA. It is run by the Executive Leadership Team. The Board of Directors consists of representatives from eight countries and has the major voice in selecting directions, activities, and programs of the CPIF. The Advisory Board is formed by international representatives from different disciplines and fields, including medical, health care, business, education, and lay public representatives.

The purpose of the CPIF is to prevent cleft lip and palate anomalies – the second most common birth defects and the first most common and serious anomalies of the face and mouth that are affecting about 230,000 newborns in the world every year.

There are several components of our program:

1. Education regarding causes of cleft lip and palate anomalies and distribution of educational material on several levels – (1) professionals, (2) individuals affected with a cleft and their families, (3) general public
2. Providing nutritional and lifestyle education to women and adolescent girls and distributing educational materials
3. Providing outreach and public information – public presentations, articles, printed materials, access to social medial, TV, and radio
4. Vocational training
5. Collaborations with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with similar interest and with experts, suppliers, organizations, and agencies

A powerful approach how to decrease prevalence of cleft lip and palate anomaly in a population is prevention by a healthy lifestyle and a healthy nutrition of a mother. The first step to this goal is building awareness in people by education. This website is devoted to this purpose.