Five-year-old Valentine faced bullying and isolation from other children because of her cleft condition.
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Inspiring stories
Explore Stories
In Rwanda, there are just 5 plastic surgeons for 13m people. Follow a day in the life of Dr Fidel Simba, a surgical trainee who’s learning cleft care – and helping to change that statistic.
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We hear from Zahrah, Sophia and Amy – three unsung heroes who keep things running smoothly and make sure there’s always a friendly welcome when you contact Operation Smile.
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We’re bringing cleft care closer to people in Rwanda, by creating new regional treatment facilities where more plastic surgeons can train. Meet some of the doctors involved in the programme.
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After years of waiting, five surgical programmes and countless obstacles, Leana reaches the end of her courageous journey to a new smile.
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A Q&A with Jeanie Barjum, Executive Director of Operation Smile Honduras.
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In northwestern Rwanda, six month old Adolphe receives much needed care thanks to Operation Smile.
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Joycelyn was abandoned by her mother because of her cleft. She needed urgent help. Thankfully Operation Smile and a lady called Cynthia stepped in to give her the love and care she needed.
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Programme updates
Find out how our surgical programmes are strengthening local health systems and training the next generation of medical leaders.
Training anaesthetists in Rwanda
Anaesthesia is vital to the delivery of safe surgery, but there is a dramatic shortage of trained anaesthetists in Rwanda. In this densely populated country, 11.9 million people are served by just 15 anaesthetists and anaesthesiologists.
Dr Paulin Banguti is working to fill this void – he’s director of the post-graduate anaesthesia programme at the University of Rwanda. During the March 2016 Operation Smile surgical training rotation at Rwinkwavu District Hospital, he led a group of anaesthesia residents to observe and learn from volunteer anaesthesiologists from around the world.
Strengthening health systems in Malawi
To enable Operation Smile to serve and treat more people living with cleft conditions, we focus on increasing the surgical capacity of low-and middle-income countries like Malawi so that cleft care for local people can continue, even after a surgical programme ends.
Operation Smile Malawi has worked to encourage and educate local surgeons, doctors and nurses, and now has nearly 50 percent of its medical volunteers from Malawi. Surgical training rotations train and empower local surgeons to help their own communities and strengthen health systems for the future.
