Since its founding, Cleft-Children International CCI has been dedicated to giving children born with cleft lip and palate the chance to live healthy and dignified lives.
What began as a medical initiative has grown into an international network of doctors, therapists, and supporters – united by expertise, experience, and compassion.
CCI stands for medicine that reaches beyond the operating room – medicine that takes responsibility.
A single operation can change a child’s life, but it is the follow-up care, the training of local medical professionals, and the education of entire communities that create lasting impact.
Based in Zurich, the foundation operates according to a simple guiding principle: Heal where there is need – and share knowledge so that help endures. In this spirit, CCI combines surgical excellence with humanitarian commitment – contributing to greater global justice in access to medical care.
A cleft lip and palate is more than a visible malformation – it is a profound disruption in the life of a child and their family. In many countries, it means exclusion, silence, and the loss of fundamental opportunities.
The vision of Cleft-Children International CCI is a world in which no child must fail because of this condition – a world where medical care is not a privilege, but a right; a world where knowledge is shared, responsibility is embraced, and humanity is lived.
Our work is guided by the belief that every smile restored is a sign of hope – and a quiet testimony to what becomes possible when people stand up for one another.
This vision has carried our foundation since its beginning – through every surgery, every training session, and every family that regains trust and courage. Because every smile we restore changes more than a face – it changes a life.
For Cleft-Children International CCI, healing means far more than reconstructing a face. It means restoring a child’s confidence – and giving a family new hope
In places where poverty, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of medical training often make help impossible, CCI creates pathways – through expertise, perseverance, and compassion.
Our work is guided by a simple yet profound principle: every treatment should not only change a life, but also strengthen the system.
Surgery is often the beginning of a new path in life. In cooperation with local hospitals, universities, and international expert teams, Cleft-Children International CCI enables surgical procedures that meet the highest medical standards – while being carefully adapted to local conditions.
The treatments include the closure of the lip, palate, and jaw, the reconstruction of the alveolar ridge, and, when necessary, aesthetic or functional corrections later in childhood or adolescence.
But a surgical procedure is far more than a technical act. It represents trust – between doctors, parents, and child. It requires preparation, education, and follow-up care.
That is why CCI works with multidisciplinary teams in which surgeons, dentists, ENT specialists, anesthetists, nurses, speech therapists, and psychologists collaborate closely.
This interplay of diverse medical disciplines ensures that every child receives truly holistic care – functional, aesthetic, and emotional.
In this way, a form of medicine emerges that not only heals but also empowers: medically safe, deeply human, and sustainably effective.
A surgery can change so much – but true healing takes time, patience, and care.
That is why medical assistance at Cleft-Children International CCI does not end in the operating room. After surgery begins the often decisive second step: continuous follow-up care.
Speech therapy helps children rediscover their voices – to form sounds, find words, and express themselves clearly and confidently.
Equally important is psychosocial support. Many families have lived for years with rejection, guilt, and isolation. Our teams accompany them through this phase of life as well – listening, advising, strengthening self-confidence, and helping to transform experiences of pain into hope.
CCI remains by the children’s side – for many years – until they are healthy, confident, and ready to walk their path independently.
Sustainable help does not arise from one-time missions, but from building knowledge, experience, and responsibility on the ground. That is why training is a central element of the work of Cleft-Children International CCI.
Through educational programs, observer ships, and practical hands-on trainings, local doctors and surgeons learn state-of-the-art surgical techniques. Nurses receive instruction in anesthesia, wound care, and postoperative treatment. Speech therapists, nutritionists, and psychologists are actively integrated into the interdisciplinary treatment process.
CCI promotes the exchange of knowledge between international experts and local teams through workshops, digital training sessions, and telemedical case discussions – making expertise accessible where it is needed most.
Special emphasis is placed on developing interdisciplinary competence centers, where surgery, speech therapy, dentistry, nutrition science, and psychology work hand in hand. These centers create structures that can function independently in the long term – enabling thousands of children to receive help in the future, even without constant international support.
This investment in people and knowledge is perhaps the most sustainable form of healing: it transforms short-term aid into lasting self-reliance.
Scientific work is an integral part of the activities at all CCI cleft centers. The teams document their results, refine treatment methods, and publish regularly in international medical journals.
In doing so, they contribute not only to improving surgical techniques but also to advancing cleft surgery and interdisciplinary treatment concepts worldwide.
Every publication, every study, and every professional exchange strengthens the foundation on which CCI operates: evidence-based medicine that is shared, practiced, and passed on – in the service of the children whose smiles shape the future.
Medical healing is only one part of the journey – social healing is the other. In many regions, cleft lip and palate are still surrounded by myths, shame, and stigma. Children are mocked, families are excluded, and mothers are often blamed.
That is why Cleft-Children International CCI is committed not only to work in hospitals but also within communities – through awareness campaigns, school visits, information events, and collaboration with local media.
Teachers and community health workers are trained to share knowledge and help break down prejudice.
When communities understand that a cleft is neither a shame nor a punishment, but a treatable medical condition, exclusion transforms into acceptance.
Through awareness and education, CCI helps ensure that children are not only healed, but also seen, understood, and embraced.
From all these elements – surgery, aftercare, training, and awareness – a sustainable model has emerged over the years: the Cleft Centers of Cleft-Children International CCI.
Here, knowledge, experience, and compassion come together in a holistic understanding of responsibility. Each center is more than just a clinic – it is a place of healing, learning, and human connection.
In close cooperation with local partners, CCI creates structures that endure: with qualified teams, modern equipment, and a clear focus on independence and quality.
These centers are the visible heart of CCI’s work – places where medical aid transforms into sustainable development.
«For me, medicine means taking responsibility – for each individual child and for the systems that make healing possible.»
Prof. Dr. Dr. Hermann F. Sailer
A distinctive feature of all Cleft Centers of Cleft-Children International CCI is the training of medical specialists through internationally recognized Fellowship Programs.
These programs are designed to train surgeons from the respective regions to become specialists in cleft lip and palate surgery – comprehensive, practice-oriented, and according to the highest medical standards.
Over a period of two years, fellows complete a structured education program covering diagnostics, surgical techniques, anesthesia, aftercare, and interdisciplinary collaboration. They learn to plan and perform complex cases independently – guided by experienced cleft surgeons at each center and supported by international experts.
After completing their fellowship, the physicians leave the center to share their knowledge in their home regions and to build new care structures there.
In this way, training becomes sustainability: every single fellow helps knowledge to grow, multiply, and reach new children.
The Fellowship Programs are thus the core of the foundation’s long-term impact – ensuring quality, continuity, and the future of a medicine that takes responsibility.
«What began as a spontaneous act became a lifelong mission. We didn’t just want to help – we wanted to build structures that endure.»
Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer
Sometimes change begins with a single look. For Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer, it began in India – in the streets, workshops, and villages where she regularly worked as part of her career in the textile industry.
Time and again, she encountered mothers holding their children protectively in their arms – children whose faces were marked by a cleft lip and palate. These encounters stayed with her; she could not let them go.
Compassion turned into determination. Erika Sailer no longer wanted to simply witness – she wanted to act.
She reached out to Prof. Dr. Dr. Hermann F. Sailer, an internationally renowned oral and maxillofacial surgeon from Zurich, who had dedicated decades of his life to treating congenital facial malformations. She asked whether he would be willing to operate on two children from India free of charge if she could manage to bring them to Switzerland.
Prof. Sailer agreed. And thus began a journey that would go on to change many lives.
With unwavering determination, Erika Sailer organized visas, travel documents, and official permissions – in an environment that left little room for such an undertaking.
Finally, she succeeded: two children, Ranga and Carla, were able to travel to Zurich. There, they underwent surgery – successfully, gently, and with a care that went far beyond the medical.
For the children, it meant healing. For Hermann and Erika Sailer, it was the beginning of a mission that would shape the rest of their lives.
What began as a spontaneous act of humanity grew into a movement. Both realized that true help can only last when it shares knowledge, builds structures, and passes on responsibility.
Thus, in the year 2000, Hermann and Erika Sailer founded Cleft-Children International CCI. Their goal: to give children with cleft lip and palate worldwide access to high-quality, free medical treatment.
From the very beginning, one principle was clear: healing must not be left to chance – it must be made possible, everywhere.
Today, CCI is active in several countries, combining medical excellence with sustainable training and education. In this way, every operation becomes more than a surgical intervention – it becomes the beginning of a new path in life.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Hermann F. Sailer contributed his decades of experience as a physician, researcher, and teacher – guided by a deep sense of ethics, quality, and responsibility.
Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer complemented this commitment with her organizational strength, social sensitivity, and unwavering belief that humanity knows no boundaries.
Together, they laid the foundation for an organization that continues to embody what they once began: transforming a spontaneous act of compassion into a lasting structure – and a single encounter into a movement.
The story of Cleft-Children International CCI does not end with the founding of the foundation – it truly begins there.
What once started in Zurich as a gesture of humanity has, step by step, grown into a global network of healing.
Every center established since then stands as a symbol of shared knowledge, lived responsibility, and hope that endures.
Behind Cleft-Children International CCI stand people who unite medicine, compassion, and responsibility.
They come from different fields, yet share a common conviction: that knowledge brings obligation – and that healing endures only when it is carried out with integrity.
The Board of Trustees brings together medical excellence, organizational strength, and human experience. It guides CCI’s work with foresight, clarity, and a steadfast commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes for the children the foundation serves.
At its head are Prof. Dr. Dr. Hermann F. Sailer, who leads the foundation with professional authority and human responsibility, and Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer, whose determination and initiative form the foundation of many of CCI’s achievements.
They are supported by Katharina Bode, who, as Managing Director, coordinates the foundation’s daily work and connects projects around the world.
Together, they embody the values that have defined Cleft-Children International CCI since its founding: medical precision, human closeness, and an unwavering commitment to making a lasting impact.
«For me, medicine is more than science – it is responsibility.»
Professor Dr. Dr. Hermann F. Sailer
Prof. Dr. Dr. Hermann F. Sailer is internationally recognized as one of the leading figures in oral and maxillofacial surgery.
For decades, he has shaped the field through innovative surgical methods, scientific excellence, and a deep understanding of the unity between function, aesthetics, and humanity.
After completing his training and habilitation at the University of Zurich, he went on to head its Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, developing it into an internationally renowned center for reconstructive surgery.
Yet despite all scientific achievement, his focus has always remained on the human being. During numerous stays in countries with limited medical resources, he realized that healing often fails not because of medical limits, but because of a lack of means. This insight became the driving force behind his humanitarian commitment.
Together with his wife, Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer, he founded Cleft-Children International CCI in 2000.
Their goal: to provide children with cleft lip and palate around the world access to safe, high-quality, and free medical treatment.
Under his leadership, CCI has grown into a network of medical excellence and humanitarian responsibility.
For Prof. Sailer, medicine means more than curing disease – it means opening new perspectives for life.
His thinking is guided by the conviction that knowledge must be shared to create impact – and that true help begins where one accepts responsibility for others.
«Those who want to make a difference must not let anything stop them.»
Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer
Dr. h.c. Erika Sailer embodies energy, determination, and the unwavering belief that help only matters when it truly reaches those in need.
She is a woman who does not rest until an idea becomes reality – persistent, courageous, and clear in her convictions.
As co-founder and Vice President of Cleft-Children International CCI, she represents the driving force that turns vision into action.
She thinks strategically, acts pragmatically – and pursues with conviction what others might consider impossible.
Where structures are missing, she builds them. Where doubts arise, she stands firm.
And where obstacles appear, she finds a way forward.
Erika Sailer combines determination with deep compassion. Her strength lies in taking responsibility rather than delegating it – with a resolve that inspires and motivates others.
She can be demanding when necessary, and tireless when it counts. Through her commitment, Cleft-Children International CCI has grown – from an idea into an institution, from a vision into a foundation with global impact.
She stands for leadership that both challenges and empowers – and for the will to do what is right, even when the path demands strength.
«For me, responsibility means creating structures that others can rely on – so that help not only functions, but truly makes an impact.»
Katharina Bode
Katharina Bode is the organizational heart of Cleft-Children International CCI. She oversees all operational activities – from the planning and implementation of international projects to the coordination of Cleft Centers, as well as controlling, fundraising, and marketing.
Each year, around 4,000 treatments are made possible and supported through her work.
What may at first sound like numbers and processes is, in truth, a finely tuned balance of precision, empathy, and tireless dedication.
She holds the threads together – ensuring structure, clarity, and transparency – and thereby builds the foundation that allows help to be effective worldwide.
Her standard is quiet but uncompromising: quality in every detail, responsibility in every decision. With her clear sense of what truly matters, she shapes CCI’s daily work at every level.
Katharina Bode stands for a form of leadership that does not seek attention but delivers results – for reliability, integrity, and a quiet strength that forms the backbone of an entire foundation.
The Board of Trustees of Cleft-Children International CCI brings together individuals who carry responsibility with experience, foresight, and personal conviction.
Dr. Dr. Martin Sailer, Dr. Robin Houcken, and Andreas Roffler jointly represent the strategic and ethical direction of the foundation.
They oversee the quality of the foundation’s work, ensure transparency, and guarantee that every decision serves the central goal: to provide children with cleft lip and palate worldwide access to sustainable medical care.
With diverse professional backgrounds but a shared set of values, they form the foundation upon which CCI stands – a leadership defined by trust, guidance, and a lived sense of responsibility.
Every decision, every operation, every project of the Cleft-Children International CCI follows one clear and deeply rooted conviction: medicine is only complete when it includes humanity.
This understanding has guided the foundation’s actions since its inception and continues to shape its view of healing, responsibility, and compassion.
CCI stands for a form of care that goes beyond medicine alone – for responsibility that endures when surgery ends, and for compassion that remains professional, yet never distant.
The foundation’s principles are built on three guiding values:
Dignity – because every child has the right to be accepted: with a face that is allowed to smile, and with awareness of their own identity and belonging.
Responsibility – because medical knowledge carries an obligation: to share expertise, to train local professionals, and to build sustainable structures so that help can grow where it is most needed.
Integrity – because help can only remain credible when it is given independently, transparently, and respectfully.
These values unite everyone who works for CCI – doctors, nurses, project leaders, and supporters.
They share the conviction that true help is not an act of giving, but of sharing – sharing knowledge, responsibility, and humanity.
Thus, the principles of CCI are not just words on paper, but a living practice – every day, in every center, and in every child who learns to smile again.
Cleft-Children International CCI measures success not by intentions, but by the traces that remain. Responsibility means looking beyond the moment of help and shaping impact in a way that endures.
Real change emerges where medical precision meets humanity – where knowledge is shared and structures are strengthened. This mindset guides the foundation’s work at every stage.
Whoever heals assumes responsibility – for quality, transparency, and sustainability.
CCI ensures responsible use of resources, clear communication, and long-term partnerships that build trust and secure impact.
But responsibility also means passing on knowledge and fostering independence. Sustainability arises when help remains – even without constant support from outside.
Impact is not measured by numbers alone, but in the lives of the children: in their new ability to speak, in growing self-confidence, and in genuine social inclusion.
With around 4,000 treatments every year and numerous Cleft Centers worldwide, CCI transforms lives – from families who regain hope to professionals who carry their knowledge forward.
For responsibility without impact is merely intention – and impact without responsibility loses credibility.
CCI unites precision and empathy, transparency and trust – for help that endures and creates future.
Cleft-Children International CCI places great importance on financial stability and transparency – because only a secure foundation allows projects to be realized sustainably and over the long term.
Careful use of funds, clear processes, and responsible financial management ensure that every contribution has an impact where it is needed most.
Equally important to us is openness in handling the resources entrusted to our care.
We communicate transparently about the origin and allocation of our funds – out of respect for everyone who supports our work, and in recognition that trust is the basis of every sustainable partnership.
For this reason, we make our annual activity reports, the audit reports of the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations, and the external financial audits available.
You will find these documents below – as an expression of our conviction that lived responsibility always includes accountability.