CA16234 - European Cleft and Craniofacial Initiative for Equality in Care (ECCE)

The main aim of the Action is to ensure that children born with orofacial clefts and other craniofacial conditions receive optimum multidisciplinary care enabling them to grow up like any other child and attain equal status within their societies.  Estimates indicate that there are over 1,000 000 individuals with clefts in Europe  – a significant figure, especially when one considers that not only the patients but also their families are affected in terms of psychosocial adjustment and having to endure the burden of a long treatment pathway.

The Action, in particular, will work with COST Inclusiveness Target Countries where limited or no national protocols exist in cleft and craniofacial care and will, via healthcare research, develop health-integrated networks which will manage and oversee the development of cleft and craniofacial services.  Europe currently lacks a harmonised approach to evaluate the current provision of care, the impacts on key areas of the affected families and society at large.

This Action will co-ordinate and increase research across Europe and will forge crucial links between researchers, practitioners and policy-makers, offering the potential for significant benefits to the families affected by orofacial clefts and other craniofacial conditions in Europe.