ECO was delighted to be a key participant in a delegation to the European Parliament on 27 February 2018. The breakfast event, hosted by MEP Sean Kelly and attended by a diverse audience of other MEPs and policy makers, was an opportunity to get clefts and craniofacial anomalies on the Parliament’s agenda. The aim is to start pressing the European Commission for specific resources for cleft and craniofacial care in order to reduce the huge inequalities across Europe, enabling equal access to good quality lifelong cleft care. Speaking at the event, ECO Executive Director Gareth Davies, said ‘access to good cleft care is a basic human right and everyone born with a cleft and craniofacial anomaly should have the opportunity of realizing their full potential. There are a million people in Europe with clefts – equivalent to a city the size of Brussels. This in not a marginal concern and needs addressing urgently”

A full report of the meeting is available here.