Background: The incidence of cleft lip and cleft palate in Thailand is based on reports from three hospitals in Northeastern Thailand. There are 2.49 new babies born with cleft lip and cleft palate and craniofacial deformities for every 1,000 babies the highest incidence in the world. Area 7 Office of the National Health Security Office (NHSO) comprises Khon Kaen, Roi Et, Mahasarakam and Kalasin. The number of newborns with cleft lip and palate is an estimated 114 cases/year. A retrospective geoinformatics study was conducted using the medical records of 4- to 5-year-olds with cleft lip and cleft palate registered with the Tawanchai Center, Srinagarind Hospital.
Objective: To study the distribution of 4- to 5-year-olds with cleft lip and palate using geoinformatics.
Material and Method: This retrospective study was conducted using data from the medical records, which contains the records of 4- to 5-year-olds with cleft lip and cleft palate admitted to Srinagarind Hospital. The 54-patient sample groups were registered at the Tawanchai Center, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, under the aegis of the NHSO (Area 7-Khon Kaen). The data were collected using self-administered questionnaires between May and June 2012 and geoinformatics, to study the distribution of patients’ vis-a-vis the various parameters.
Results: Among the 27 male and 27 female patients, 51.85% had cleft lip with cleft palate. Most of the cleft lip patients (7 cases; 41.18%) were in Khon Kaen, while 4 (44.44%) of the cleft palate patients were in Roi-Et and 11 (39.29%) of the cleft lip with palate patients were in Khon Kaen. Most cleft lip patients were in Roi-Et province: 1 case in each of four districts. Similarly, most cases of cleft palate were in Roi-Et province: 1 case in each of four districts. Finally, most cases (5; 50%) of cleft lip with cleft palate were found in Roi-Et province, mostly in the central (Muang) district.
Conclusion: The use of Arc View software as an instrument for geoinformatics, spatial data collection helped to clarify the district level distribution of patients with CLP; this information is needed for policy planning and resource allocation.

Keywords: Cleft lip, Cleft palate, Geoinformatics, Tawanchai Center, NHSO Area 7, Khon Kaen, Thailand