About World Cleft Awareness Day
What is World Cleft Awareness Day (WCAD)?
World Cleft Awareness Day (July 20) is a global moment to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and amplify the voices of people born with a cleft, while pushing for access to safe, timely surgery and comprehensive cleft care worldwide.
Why World Cleft Awareness Day Was Established
Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common craniofacial birth differences worldwide. Yet stigma, misinformation, and lack of access to care persist. To help address these challenges, Smile Train, the world's largest cleft-focused organization, founded World Cleft Awareness Day in 2025 as a global day dedicated specifically to cleft. The day raises awareness, reduces stigma, promotes equity and inclusion, and supports access to safe surgery and comprehensive cleft care.
Why Cleft Awareness Matters
To build real understanding
Cleft conditions are common, yet widely misunderstood. Cleft awareness replaces myths with facts and swaps assumptions for empathy.
To center lived experience
This day elevates the voices and lived experiences of people born with cleft lip and/or cleft palate, along with their families and loved ones.
To support access to care
Cleft awareness helps drive advocacy for timely, comprehensive treatment and support - so no one is left behind, and cleft-affected individuals can access the life-changing care they deserve.
Who the Day is For
World Cleft Awareness Day is for:
- People born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate
- Families, friends, and allies
- Medical professionals and care teams
- Advocates and supporters around the world
Most importantly, it centers the lived experiences of those directly impacted.
What Are Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate?
A cleft lip and/or cleft palate happens when parts of a baby's lip or mouth don't fully form during early pregnancy. Globally, clefts affect about 1 in 700 babies.
Clefts can make it harder to:
- Eat and get proper nutrition
- Hear clearly
- Speak
- Breathe
With timely surgery and coordinated care, many children born with a cleft grow up healthy and confident.
What Causes a Cleft?
Often, there isn't one single known cause. Cleft lip and cleft palate are considered multifactorial, meaning genetics and environmental factors during pregnancy can both play a role.
More about the Artwork
Illustrated by Kate Hamernik. Kate is honored to create artwork for World Cleft Awareness Day. Her daughter, Charlie, was born 14 years ago with a bilateral incomplete cleft lip and palate, making this cause especially meaningful to her. View more of Kate's artwork at KateHamArt.com.