When Isis Regina was born with a cleft lip and palate, her mum Erica was shocked and scared. Then she found Operation Smile and new hope for her daughter’s future.
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Inspiring stories
Explore Stories
In this Q&A we chat to medical volunteer Morgan about what inspired him to pursue a career in speech and language therapy and why it’s such a vital part of comprehensive cleft care.
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We’ve teamed up with Superdrug, Pennies and Oral B for a brand-new campaign! From the 12th August to 6th October, a quick 20p donation at the till helps fund life-changing surgery for children like Lia.
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Growing up with a cleft condition, Miguel knew what it felt like to look different. When he found out his daughter, Margaret, had a cleft, he was determined to give her a better future. Here’s their story.
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Meet Clement, Georgina and Elliot — three Ghanaians bringing free, life-saving cleft care to more children through Operation Smile.
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Back from leading a team of nurses in Mtwara, Tanzania, Doreenlove explains how she helps to bring a surgical programme together and why training local teams is close to her heart.
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When Lia was born with a cleft lip in rural Guatemala, her devoted dad Gerardo made a difficult journey to help her access the life-changing surgery she needed.
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After her first ever Operation Smile programme in Madagascar, cleft surgeon Nitisha reflects on the patients she met and what volunteering taught her.
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Blowing bubbles might look like simple play, but for children with cleft conditions, it’s a powerful tool, soothing nerves before surgery and building confidence with speech.
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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.
