Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of cleft lip, cleft palate and cleft lip and palate in hospital
live births in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. Study design: this was a retrospective study using hospital data. Materials
and methods: The records of 75336 live births delivered at three public hospitals in Dar es Salaam were examined.
Results: Thirteen cases of cleft lip and cleft palate were recorded giving a prevalence of 17 per 100,000. Boys were
more affected than girls with a male to female ratio of 2.25:1. However, 6 (46.2%) out of all the cases had both cleft
lip and palate, 4 (30.8%) had cleft lip only and 3 (23.0%) had cleft palate alone. Conclusions: In this study the birth
prevalence of cleft lip, cleft palate and cleft lip and palate in Dar es Salaam, was low (17 per 100,000 births). There
were more boys than girls who were recorded to be born either with a cleft lip, cleft palate and cleft lip and palate. Tanzania Dental Journal Vol. 14 (1) 2007: pp. 30-3
