Around the worldevery year 215,000 children are born with facial clefts

Around the worldevery year 215,000 children are born with facial clefts

In developed countries, these deformities are repaired

within a few months of birth

In West Africa, most children born with clefts do

not have access to the

simple surgeries needed to

repair clefts

This is Mariama This is Alseny

They are twinsThey are twins

At 4 months, Alseny weighs 6.2 lbs

His sister weighs 12.1 lbs

Because Alseny has a cleft lip and palate, he

cannot feed well and

only gets a little milk

As a result Alseny is severely malnourished and will not live long

without help

Alseny’s mother did

not have the money or

access to a hospital to treat his

cleft lip and palate

Alseny’s mother heard about Mercy

Ships and brought her son to be

seen.

Through Mercy Ships infant feeding program, Alseny will receive the

nutrition he needs to gain weight for surgery.

26 Weeks

6.2 lbs

28 Weeks

9.7 lbs

36 Weeks17.8 lbs

Now that Alseny is at a healthy

weight

He can have a free

surgery with Mercy Ships

A few short weeks of recovery and Alseny’s lip has healed