AI-enabled app strengthens postoperative follow-up for cleft surgery in remote regions Jan 28, 2026
Global Smile Foundation (GSF) is expanding access to postoperative cleft care for underserved patients worldwide by deploying AI-enabled follow-up across its programs, ensuring that children who receive cleft surgery through GSF-supported initiatives can also access consistent, high-quality care during recovery. Through a partnership with Predictive Healthcare, GSF will broaden the use of MyHealthPal, an AI-enabled postoperative care app, across its global cleft lip and palate programs.
For the hundreds of families GSF serves each year, postoperative follow-up can be the most challenging part of care. Many patients live hours away from partner hospitals and face significant barriers to returning for in-person visits, including transportation costs, lost wages, and safety concerns associated with long-distance travel. Without follow-up, treatable wound issues can worsen and compromise surgical outcomes. By extending postoperative monitoring beyond the hospital, GSF is reducing the burden on families while enabling earlier clinical intervention when concerns arise.
After successful pilots in Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, and Lebanon, MyHealthPal has shown it can support structured postoperative cleft follow-up in settings where in-person care is difficult to access. Smartphone use and cellular connectivity are now widespread across the regions where GSF operates, making mobile health tools a practical and scalable way to support recovery. Patients or caregivers use the app to submit daily wound photos and brief symptom check-ins from home, which are analyzed by an AI-driven risk model and reviewed by GSF clinical teams to identify early signs of complications and support timely intervention.
In research conducted between 2022 and 2024, MyHealthPal predicted wound status with 84% accuracy and reduced unnecessary return visits for nearly 50% of cleft patients. This risk-based triage model allows care teams to prioritize in-person resources for patients showing early signs of complications, while sparing many families long, costly travel when healing is progressing as expected.
Based on these outcomes, GSF will incorporate MyHealthPal as a standard component of postoperative cleft care across its international programs, supporting consistent follow-up, real-time communication with families, and clinical escalation when necessary.
“Successful cleft care depends on what happens after surgery,” said Dr. Usama Hamdan, Board President and Co-Founder of Global Smile Foundation. “This technology allows us to monitor healing remotely, intervene earlier when needed, and maintain postoperative follow-up for families who would otherwise struggle to come back for care.”
About Global Smile Foundation Founded in 2008, Global Smile Foundation (GSF) is a global nonprofit advancing safe, high-quality cleft lip and palate care through clinical care, education, and research. GSF delivers comprehensive cleft treatment worldwide while partnering with local providers to build lasting surgical capacity. Drawing on decades of patient data and ongoing research, the organization helps advance global standards in cleft treatment and education. Its flagship Comprehensive Cleft Care Workshop (CCCW) convenes multidisciplinary experts annually to share knowledge, strengthen training, and improve cleft care worldwide. Learn more at www.gsmile.org.
